Pentatonic Minor and Major
The more known of these two is the Pentatonic Minor Mode which has been extensively
utilized by many famous rock guitarists. The following quote is from a page called "Technique Rules" from
Metal-Rules.com about the Pentatonic Minor Mode.
"This scale is one of the basic tools for Rock (Blues, Metal) guitar improvisation (playing leads in another words). Here are a few guitarists who use pentatonics as a corner stone of their lead styles: Eric Clapton, Michael Schenker, Kirk Hammet, SRV, Angus Young, Richie Blackmore, Eric Johnson, Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, … and many, many more."
The Pentatonic Major Mode is also a very interesting mode and really sounds very different even though these are the same notes that would be played in the Major 7th Ionian mode. Be sure to give this a try the next time you are improvising to a Major 7th chord.
Construction of the Pentatonic Minor mode.
Construction of the Major Pentatonic Mode
Next is the fingering for the Pentatonic Minor mode.
Now we will look at the construction of this mode's scale degrees.
What is missing here? The 2nd degree and the 6th degree are both absent. The 3rd degree is flatted thus making this a minor 3rd which makes this mode a minor mode. The dominant 7th (flat 7th tone) is also flatted which . makes this a more bluesy and funky mode. With only five tones in this mode there is a little more freedom for improvising since there are fewer tones that could be discordant with the chord you are playing over.
Now record the following chord sequence or have a friend play this for you to improvise over. A minor for 8 bars in 4/4 (four quarter notes per measure or bar) then B minor for 8 bars. Repeat this sequence until you have at least two or three minutes to improvise against. You could if you like jazz this up a bit by using minor 7th chords. Jamey Abersold has some nice minor sequences on his Volume I "How to Play Jazz and Improvise" cd. Minor Pentatonic is a lot of fun to play and a good way to get started in Rock improvisation. You could also add an occasional #4th to give your improvisation a "Bluesy" feel.
Start out with the index finger on the 6th string
at the fifth fret (A). When the chord changes to
B minor then just move up the neck two frets and
start with the index finger on the 6th string at
the seventh fret (B).
Next we will look at the Pentatonic Major Scale
Degrees.
This is interesting because in the Pentatonic Minor Mode the 2nd and 6th degrees were omitted. In the Pentatonic Major Mode the the 4th and the 7th degrees are omitted. Since there is no 7th tone this would allow us to play this against a Dominant 7th chord also, as always however, dependant on your musical taste. Below is the suggested fingering for this mode.
Record two or three minutes of a standard three chord progression. Start with 8 bars of A Major, then 8 bars of D Major (The IV Chord) then 8 bars of A Major (The I Chord). Then 8 bars of E-7th (The V Chord) followed by 8 bars of A Major (The I Chord).
Play the Pentatonic Major Mode against this progression. Start with your middle (long) finger on the 6th string at the 5th fret.
When the chord changes to the IV chord go to the D on your 5th string at the 5th fret. Use the root 5/3 Pentatonic Major Mode.
When the chord goes back to the I chord go back to the A on the 6th string at the 5th fret with your middle finger. Then when the chord changes to the V chord use the Pentatonic Major 5/3 starting at the 7th fret on the 5th string or E. Also, you could use the Mixolydian 5/3 Mode. Experiment here with both and decide which you like. The Pentatonic Major Mode has a very unique sound and is probably one of the more ignored modes for great improvisation.
Thanks for your attention and happy guitar playing.
Copyright © John Mericle 2000-2010 All Rights Reserved
Attention Blues Guitarists
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The Meeting of the Spirits
Valentine's day 1979, the original trio (Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia) performed one of the most memorable concerts ever at the Royal Albert Hall in London. This unprecedented meeting of guitar virtuosos from very different musical backgrounds came together as one of the ultimate improvisational studies in history, second only to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew. The DVD of this concert "The Meeting of the Spirits" is available from Netflicks.