Guitar Pentatonic Scales?

5 Comments

1. Jade Thefamouscrayon says:

   June 20, 2011 at 9:35 pm

   Easiest answer go on youtube and do a search for pentatonic scale. Each chord compromises of different notes so more or less you have to know your notes and how it applies to each string/fret, after that you can figure out which notes are compatible with certain chords. Its really hard to explain on the net but seriously go on youtube, they HAVE everything, unless you live nearby and I could show you lol.

   Fyi… G is a pretty neutral chord it sounds good with almost everything!
   References :
2. LucasMan says:

   June 20, 2011 at 9:54 pm

   1) Just think about this: if there were a "rule" about something like that, how would it be enforced? Don’t you think that songwriters would just do whatever they wanted to anyway?

   2) What is the "extended pentatonic scale"? That doesn’t make sense. I have a feeling that you’re confusing a shape/fingering with the actual scale. Just because you play notes outside of a specific fingering doesn’t mean you’re playing a different scale. The scale extends above and below the fingering pattern you’re using. For example, A minor pentatonic has the notes A C D E and G in it. EVERY A C D E and G note on the guitar is part of the A minor pentatonic scale.

   Here is a nice article on pentatonic scales that should clear up some of your confusion (and straighten some things out in your head).

   A simple general rule to follow is minor pentatonic for minor chords, major pentatonic for major chords. So if your chord progression is E – A – F#m – B then you could use E major pentatonic over the E chord, A major pentatonic over the A chord, F# minor pentatonic over the F#m chord… you get the idea.

   3) B minor pentatonic scale will sound okay over an E7 chord… you’ll have to watch out for that A note though… that one will sound bad against the G# in the chord.
   References :
3. Robert says:

   June 20, 2011 at 10:36 pm

   Those are not stupid questions (what is?), so don’t be hard on yourself.

   Chords absolutely do not need to be in the same key. First of all, like the guy above mentioned, there are in no way any rules to music. There are common ways to go about things and there are your personal preferences and what sounds good to your ears. Realizing this is extremely important. Secondly, many songs will change key and/or borrow chords from different keys to create harmonic color and contrast. There are functional methods and certain guidelines that may help you move to new keys and borrow chords in a smooth fashion, and there are less functional ways that can make using chords that aren’t within the key sound abrasive and overly dissonant (is this "bad"? entirely up to you!). However, when you’re beginning to write music, it may be a good practice to write in one key- just so you can get an intellectual understanding and aural perception on how harmony works, and so your music has a less chance of sounding random and disjunct. Which leads to pentatonic scales- the pentatonic scales you are referring to eliminate the half steps within a key so you won’t have any clashing notes. This is why it is an effective, consonant sounding scale to use for novice improvisers and composing musicians.

   I’m going to assume by D,C,G you are talking about a basic V-IV-I progression where all the chords are major. Meaning you would be in G. A Dminor pentatonic would indeed work and sound quite interesting actually, and stay in the key (the notes of a Dminor pentatonic and a G major Pentatonic would complete a C major scale, giving the impression that you are actually in C, not G like I said intially-therefore making the progression ii-I-V. It’s most commonly arranged ii-V-I though, just fyi). But for the sake of consonance, a G major Pentatonic would fit better, and a C major Pentatonic would fit the best.

   All keys have three pentatonic scales that are derived from two different keys that when put together still are within the original key. Using the above example the three pentatonic scales that would fit in the key of C are

   Cmajor/Aminor
   Fmajor/Dminor
   Gmajor/Eminor

   You say E bar chord, but that doesn’t actually tell what the chord or chord quality is, just that there is in an E in it, which isn’t enough information to give you an "accurate" scale choice I’ll assume you mean Emajor. Although if you’re like 99% of guitarists in all likelihood you really mean Eminor. A B (major) Pentatonic Scale would work.

   Emajor/C#minor
   Bmajor/G#minor
   Amajor/F#minor

   or if the E is minor

   Eminor/Gmajor
   Bminor/Dmajor
   Aminor/Cmajor

   If you’re wondering how I find out the scales, they are just the IV(or iv) and V (or v) chords of the key, and their relative minors. You can find the V by playing a power chord and using the fifth (if you were to play an E power chord using an open E and 2nd fret on the A string, the fifth would be B- so you could use a B pentatonic) or an inverted power chord and using the root (play both an open E and A string, A would be the root). It’s certainly essential to learn the scale degrees and modes which they are built upon to fully understand what chords and scales work together the best.

   Remember, anything I say here should NOT override what you write and play that sounds good to you. Use theoretical knowledge as a slave to your ears, not the other way around.
   References :
4. Cognek Tiberius says:

   June 20, 2011 at 10:54 pm

   Well… I hope my point of view can help you in some way … the only thing I "learned" while playing guitar was the pentatonic scale… and it’s the blues basic. To be more accurate, I learned pentatonic starting from like this … 1st string 5th fret – 8th fret
   …………………………….2nd string 5th fret – 7th fret
   ………………………………3rd string 5th fret – 7th fret
   ………………………………4th string 5th fret – 7th fret
   ………………………………5th string 5th fret – 8th fret
   ………………………………6th string 5th fret – 8th fret

   … .and then the reverse.

   So after a while (couple of hours) playing up and down you will get an idea about how and what a pentatonic should sound like.
   However, I seem to be also stupid so I didn’t bother much about minor major and the whole information I had to read in order to understand more… instead, I used my ears and I compared it with licks in songs where the pentatonic was used and after a lot of practice, I finally came up with decent solos.
   Though most people use tabs and terms such as minor, major (I feel a bit frustrated about it but anyway… ), I use my ears and try to feel a lick … not see it a tab… I enjoy blues and feel they are part of me so I just pick up the guitar after listening to something I like and try to get as close as that particular lick or at least improvise… you just have to put a little sould to play blues. Otherwise, you’ll get bored reading tabs and thinking like: Should I play on that key or this key,,, but what if the minor goes best …? (and so on…)
   Just pick up the damn guitar and try to feel the blues… bend the strings, make your own style and enjoy… don’t take it as an exam. Goodluck!
   References :
5. Josh E says:

   June 20, 2011 at 11:07 pm

   To make this easy for you I’ll be as brief as possible:

   1) No chords in a song don’t have to be in the same key, but generally sound better. E.g if you were in Am you wouldn’t play a Dmaj7 chord in the song.

   2) If you were playing a D, C and G chord progression you would either be in G Major or Minor. If you were in Major you could use the G Major scale or pentatonic major or you could use an E pentatonic minor scale (the relative minor to G Major).
   If you were in G Minor, simply use the G pentatonic minor, or possibly Bb major.

   3) To your last question, what barre chord in E? Major or Minor? B Pentatonic Minor would sound fine if it was E Minor, vice versa for B Major.

   Hope this helped!
   References :
   My 6 years experience of play guitar!