Ill give you an example of how to mix the notes from the major and minor pentatonic scales over the chords of a standard blues. Using minor and major pentatonic together effectively minor and major pentatonic work great together in major keys and can say a lot more than if you were to just use one scale. At this point in our study of the blues, now its time to introduce the blues scale. The major pentatonic scale next level guitar lessons.
All of the essential guitar scales are included, such as blues, pentatonic and major shapes. Using minor and major pentatonic together effectively. Cs relative minor pentatonic scale, a minor pentatonic, begins on the 6 th scale degree of the major pentatonic scale shown above. Combining minor and major pentatonic scales guitarhabits. Minor pentatonic scales to introduce a novice guitar player to the world of rock music requires that he learn a series of scales, which we can call the tools of the trade. Note that all scales have the root of the i7 chord, so e.
The major pentatonic scale is constructed from five notes of the major scale. So if you play a minor pentatonic pattern in some key, and you want to use that same pattern in the major pentatonic scale with the same root, then you need to shift that pattern down by three frets. That way youll instantly be able to find and use the scale in a musical way. Thats because if you can play these scales but dont know how to use them, theyre ineffective in your playing.
To learn these scales take each pattern one at a time and practice with a metronome. The major pentatonic scale guitar shapes and theory. The guitar scales chart book is suitable for all guitarists. C minor pentatonic scales 5 fingerings from practice jazz guitar on youtube. The awesome part is that they contain the same note intervals with differing. Your starting and emphasis notes determine which scale will sound. You could play these licks over a iivv blues progression where a7 is the i chord, d7 iv chord and e7 v chord. Label the scale degrees of the major pentatonic scales. But the important difference is the location of the root, which is of course different for major and minor pentatonic scales. Pentatonic scales for guitar the essential guide pdf 20 dec there is a major pentatonic scale and a minor pentatonic scale. E d g b e a pentaton c minor scale box 1 glitarsik.
Use the download button below or simple online reader. Some people find it easier to think in minor terms, and. How to mix major and minor pentatonic scales on guitar. Likewise, when you use g major pentatonic, the g note is the tonal center and your point of resolution. The only difference between e minor and g major pentatonic is which note functions as the tonic or tonal center of the scale. Now, we will look at the major and minor pentatonic scales, and see how. Note that a minor pentatonic has identical notes with c major pentatonic but in different order. The major pentatonic is easy to learn if you already know the minor pentatonic scale. This lesson will help you build licks that move smoothly between the two scales, in a blues context but you can use what you learn in any style. The two licks below use notes of both minor and major pentatonic scales. The only difference is that the tonic first note of the scale of the minor pentatonic is 3 semitones half steps below the tonic of. Starting on the major 7th introduce these into your playing one at a time. Minor and major pentatonic work great together in major keys and can say a lot. Clicking here and on the image below will open a pdf file of the guitar major scale chart that prints nicely.
There are both pentatonic major and minor the minor is slightly more often used. Pentatonic scales within modes telecaster guitar forum. Minor pentatonic patterns on the guitar on the guitar, there are five common scale patterns for pentatonic scales, commonly called box positions ie. Scale compendium, often referred to as the major 326 or minor 330 pentatonic scale4, play the shapes found in the exercises, but replace the written notes with the notes of your chos en scale. Scale compendium, often referred to as the major 326 or minor 330 pentatonic scale 4, play the shapes found in the exercises, but replace the written notes with the notes of your chos en scale. The aeolian mode natural minor is the 6th mode of the major scale. Premium learning minor pentatonic scales pdf ebook. However the popular genres of western music are based around two specific pentatonic scales. If you are playing in g major, use e minor pentatonic scale also know as g major pentatonic you have probably noticed that the pentatonic scale can be either a major or minor scale. The pentatonic super highway okay, its not so much a road as it is a pathway through a scale you probably already know, the majorminor pentatonic scale. Another way to do this is by taking a look at the underlying chords within the 1 4 5 progression, and simply outlining chord shapes. Alternatively, the guitar scales chart book can be printed and kept in a binder for safekeeping and quick reference or simply viewed onscreen. The a on the fifth fret of the first string is the root note of both the a minor pentatonic and a major pentatonic scales. The next album i really got into was buddy guys a man and the blues.
The real power of pentatonic scales in jazz comes with playing pentatonics of a. Guitar scales printable charts of the most commonly used. The major pentatonic scale is made from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th notes from the major scale for a given key. Remember its the process, not always the end result that you want. This printable guitar method in pdf format contains 40 easy minor jazz guitar lines based on the dorian mode. Beginner acoustic guitar lesson tom petty i wont back down how to. Remember that you can find all the major pentatonics by going through the relative minor pentatonic scales. This lesson shows you how to play between the two scales smoothly with lick. The file extension pdf and ranks to the documents category. Also, the pentatonic scale can be easily turned into the blues scale by adding the blues notes. You need to choose a root note, and a mode major or minor and work it for a while. Various positions of the major pentatonic scale pattern 15 for guitar with the fingering on the guitar neck. To understand how this works, look at this example.
In this section, you learn how to apply both minor and major pentatonic scales to chords and keys in your solos. Then notate its relative minor scale and its scale degrees. The pentatonic super highway global guitar network. D minor pentatonic has the same notes as f major pentatonic and so. Major pentatonic scale pattern 15 for guitar fingering. The ebook contains the most important scales for beginners, such as major and minor, but also shows more advanced patterns such as triads arpeggios, seventh chords arpeggios, pentatonic and blues scales scales and arpeggios are an important topic to master for those who are learning how to play guitar, so grab this book and enjoy it. The minor pentatonic scale is one of the most commonly scales used in rock, blues, country and jazz music. The guitar major scale is happy upbeat and useful in a variety of styles of music.
Yet they dont have to be completely separate beasts. There are three ways youll want to learn your major pentatonic scale forms. C major pentatonic scales can also be viewed as a minor pentatonic scales. Major pentatonic guitar scale learn all five positions. Playing the scale in this way removes the large stretches and organizes the notes in a. Whenhow to switch in between major and minor pentatonic. Notice how both an e minor em chord and a g major chord fit. Both the pentatonic major scale and minor scale have the same patterns. Free guitar scales pdf 84 scale and arpeggios chart. Assuming youve been through the bgu course at least as far as lessons 23 and 24 and understand the. The pentatonic scale is frequently used in lots of popular music styles.
The only difference is which root notes you choose to target. When the player wants to lighten things up, the major pentatonic is the scale of choice. When you use e minor pentatonic, the e note is the tonal center and your point of resolution. Learn how to mix the major and minor pentatonic scales guitar. The horizontal scale forms shown to the right are one way around this problem. This is similar to how the minor pentatonic scale is constructed from five notes of the natural minor scale, see below table. Major pentatonic scales in open position closed mobile major pentatonic scales forms horizontal. Pentatonic and blues scales there is document pentatonic and blues scales available here for reading and downloading. Minor pentatonic and the major pentatonic scales on the guitar. Yes, you can, but you should be mindful of the notes you are playing. How to use the pentatonic scale as major and minor on the. On the title cut, when the band goes to the iv chord on the opening solo, buddy starts out in an upper position of the minor pentatonic, then switches to major pentatonic in a way that anticipates the return to the i.
Guitar scales printable charts of the most commonly used scales. All of the below applies to the majorminor scale, but can easily be applied to the pentatonic and blues without issues. You can start with e minor pentatonic, but the same notes and patterns can also produce g major pentatonic. Get your free instant download of the pdf version of this guide now. Whatever method you have to use to find it is worth the time. Major, minor, pentatonic, and blues its important to memorize at least one simple major scale shape on the guitar to be able to improvise. Illustrated below is the basic box shape c major pentatonic and its relative minor, a minor pentatonic. Notice that the major pentatonic took 5 notes from the major scale, as we said, and were 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 degrees. The pentatonic scale can function as both major and minor on the guitar. You may not be able to find what youre looking for right. So basically, as with major scales, the minor pentatonic scale is the relative 6th minor of the major pentatonic scale. Finger one is the key of the major pentatonic say g and the 3rd finger is em. You can get more diagrams in the tuning of your choice by using my interactive web app here. For example, the relative minor of c is a minor, and the notes which form c major pentatonic and a minor pentatonic are the same.
This minor pentatonic scales ebook is a compilation of 9 years of preparation work teaching guitar to a wide range of abilities. Some pentatonic scales contain so many contiguous small. Make sure to read this chapter, then come back to it over time to shore. The 6th and final note in the diagram is the octave note, named the same as the tonic note. Each individual lesson depending on what is covered has either, sheet music often with tabs but not always as a pdf file, a audio mp3, the written lesson, and a video video lesson and sheet music often with tabs but not always as a pdf file. This pdf contains the diagrams for all the major and minor pentatonic scales in all keys for guitar in standard tuning. The major and minor pentatonic scales are perhaps the most used in modern music. Now lets combine the notes of the minor pentatonic and major pentatonic scale and create some soloing ideas. To view the part 2 video, download the tablature, access the onscreen tab viewer, download the mp3 jam track, and the pdf files for this guitar.
Your browser does not currently recognize any of the video formats available. The basic concept is that a given major or minor chord can be played in five positions on the fretboard c,a,g,e,d surrounding each of these chord positions is both a major and minor pentatonic. After trying many ways of teaching scales to students and moving them on to improvising and soloing, i have developed this exercise ebook to really get to grips with these 5 scale shapes. In the beginning it is of course totally acceptable to derive your major pentatonic scales from the already familiar minor pentatonic shapes, but that will only get you so far. And worldwide, there are many forms of pentatonic scales from west africa to eastern china. This makes it easy to transpose the scale into different keys and will help give you a broader view of the concepts. Worksheet minor pentatonicusing minor pentatonic scales playing jazz. Both scales consist of the same notes c, d, e, g, and a. At any point in your improvisation, you can always try jumping back and forth between the major and the minor pentatonicblues scales. Compare these scales c major pentatonic and a minor pentatonic with the c major and a minor scales, respectively. The most important of these are both major and minor pentatonic.
A major pentatonic guitar scales chart scott van zen. G major e minor pentatonic scale guitar scales the pentatonic scale is a favorite of many guitarists and its easy to see why. As you will learn, these patterns can be transferred to all keys. The minor pentatonic scale is made from the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th notes from the minor scale for a given key. How to construct major and minor pentatonic scales music. Here you will find guitar scales printable charts, easy to read and use, ready to go. Using minor and major pentatonic together effectively fretjam. In this tutorial instead of using note names ill refer to scale degree numbers 1 7 of the major and minor scales. For the piano player, this is an extremely important way to think about majorminor. The minor pentatonic scale has a minor 3rd or b3 while the major chord as a major third. Musicresourcesite educational pentatonic scales for. For right hand fingering of major pentatonic scales having all white notes keys of c, f and g, i first started out with 1,2,3, 1,2,3 1,2,3,4,5, with 1 replacing 5 as the fingering to continue into the 3rd octave, but then i realized that when playing the 4 octave descending major pentatonic it was a bit awkward to cross 4th finger over from. D minor pentatonic has the same notes as f major pentatonic and so it goes.
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