Song Building   Minor Pentatonic Soloing

Original Email from: Brad P. - Wisconsin.

" hey I just wanted to know how to solo over chords using the minor pentatonic and want to know if I have to solo each individual chord with it's minor pentatonic or is there like a way I can solo over a whole key with just one minor pentatonic key?... sorry if that sounds dumb I kind of a noob and heard something like that. Thanks - Brad P."

Here's a track that I wrote that incorporates the relative minor pentatonic. Give it a listen after you finish this lesson. And yes, I was singing well out of my comfort zone here, not quite sure I pulled this off...lol but listen to the guitar. This piece is in the key of C and most of the lead guitar was played with A minor pentatonic which would be the relative minor in this case:

Hey Brad,

Yep there is a way to do what you are talking about and it is achieved by using what is called the relative minor. Here is a chart that shows what minor pentatonic can be played over a whole key. I urge you to scroll down to see how this actually works.

 To understand the relative minor you must have a working knowledge of the major scale.  I will try to explain very quickly as plainly as I can how this works.

|----------------------------------2--3---------------------|e
|-----------------------------3--5--------------------------|B
|---------------------2--4--5-------------------------------|G
|-------------2--4--5---------------------------------------|D
|-----2--3--5-----------------------------------------------|A
|3--5-------------------------------------------------------|E (low)
 

Above are the tabs to the G Major scale. Every note of the scale is assigned a number referred to as an interval. This formula is VERY useful and you won't get far without this knowledge when it comes to theory. There are 7 actual notes in the scale. So each note in the scale is labeled from 1 - 7. The root note (first note in scale) is Low E string, 3rd fret. This would be labeled as 1. the second note is Low E, 5th fret which would be 2 and so on until we get to 7. Then the process starts over with 1 - 7 again.

Below is the interval (note numbering) of the G major scale. Compare it to the above tabs of the G maj. scale to get a better idea of how the intervals work.

|----------------------------------7--1(octave)-------------|e
|-----------------------------5--6--------------------------|B
|---------------------2--3--4-------------------------------|G
|-------------6--7--1(octave)-------------------------------|D
|-----3--4--5-----------------------------------------------|A
|1--2-------------------------------------------------------|E

Remember the first example of the g major scale above is just the tablature so the numbers on the first example are what frets you play on each string. The second example is simply how the notes are numbered (intervals). Again just incase you find yourself wondering why numbering the notes is important I'll tell you it IS very important because it is how we figure out modes and all other theory by seeing how everything else lines up with the major scale.

Now, on to soloing with the minor pentatonic: Relative Minor

The relative minor is the 6th note of any given major scale. The 6th note of the above G major scale is E. So when you are playing in the key of G you can use the E minor pentatonic to solo over that key. Now do you see why intervals are important? You have also, incase you haven't noticed,  stumbled up on modes...because when you start on the 6th note of the major scale you are in 'Aeolian' mode which is also referred to as 'the minor scale'. Incase I you are intrigued, click HERE for more theory lessons.

!!!!!BY THE WAY!!!!!!!! Just incase you don't know, the notes of a particular major scale are also the notes that make up that particular key. So by knowing the major scale not only are you learning the first major building block of theory, you now know what key you are playing in or what notes you need to play to stay within a certain key. EXAMPLE the notes from the above G major scale (it is called the G major scale because G is the first note (root note) of that scale) are: G - A - B - C - D - E - F# - G (octave). So those notes (G - A - B - C - D - E - F#) are in the key of G, there's a bit more to it than that when you get into modes but this'll get you pointed in the right direction.

So there ya have it Brad, hope that helps.

Till next time....

All material contained within this website is the sole property of fret-master.com and it's subsidiaries unless otherwise noted. Any duplication of the materials within is strictly prohibited and protected under International Copyright Laws. Copyright 2006 Fret-master.com©™ All Rights Reserved.