The Major Pentatonic Scale Options

[The Professor]

Good question about major and minor sounds. It is mostly based on the chords that you are playing over. If the chord is Am and you play Am pentatonic then it will sound minor. If you have a C chord and you play Am pentatonic, then it will sound major. Think about the relationship of the chord below your solo as what defines major vs. minor.

To test this, put on an Am to C backing track and solo over it using the A minor pent scale. Listen to how the notes sound minor over Am, then the same notes sound major over C, it's the chord that makes it sound major or minor, not the scale itself. Hope that makes sense.

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[bryant]

Good question about major and minor sounds. It is mostly based on the chords that you are playing over. If the chord is Am and you play Am pentatonic then it will sound minor. If you have a C chord and you play Am pentatonic, then it will sound major. Think about the relationship of the chord below your solo as what defines major vs. minor.

To test this, put on an Am to C backing track and solo over it using the A minor pent scale. Listen to how the notes sound minor over Am, then the same notes sound major over C, it's the chord that makes it sound major or minor, not the scale itself. Hope that makes sense.

Ok, good. I understand that, but earlier it was stated that to play major pentatonic scale over major chords to sound more rock style, and to play minor pentatonic over a minor or blues progression to get that "minor feel" or to sound bluesy. But now we're saying it does NOT matter what scale is played as the rhythm player playing the underlying chords is going to create that feel. More confused now????

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[klasaine]

Ok, good. I understand that, but earlier it was stated that to play major pentatonic scale over major chords to sound more rock style, and to play minor pentatonic over a minor or blues progression to get that "minor feel" or to sound bluesy. But now we're saying it does NOT matter what scale is played as the rhythm player playing the underlying chords is going to create that feel. More confused now????

That's more of a 'phrasing' thing. I would advise to always take with a grain of salt when you hear or see the words: "you'll sound more rock if ..." or "you'll sound jazzier if ...".
Any collection of notes - any - can sound rock or jazz or klezmer or whatever depending on how you play them.

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[The Professor]

Ok, good. I understand that, but earlier it was stated that to play major pentatonic scale over major chords to sound more rock style, and to play minor pentatonic over a minor or blues progression to get that "minor feel" or to sound bluesy. But now we're saying it does NOT matter what scale is played as the rhythm player playing the underlying chords is going to create that feel. More confused now????

There are two ways to look at this, that is the second way. If you have a C chord and you play a C major pent scale it will sound more rock or country, but if you play a C minor pent scale it will sound more bluesy.

Try this out.

Put on a C backing track, solo over that chord with a C major pent scale for a while, then switch to a C minor pent scale, and notice that since it is a static chord, now the scale changes the sound of that chord from major to a more bluesy sound.

It is good to read about theory like this, but a lot of the times reading only can cause confusion. So make sure to test these theories out on the guitar, then your ears will get involved and it should make more sense, the theory plus the application.

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[bryant]

There are two ways to look at this, that is the second way. If you have a C chord and you play a C major pent scale it will sound more rock or country, but if you play a C minor pent scale it will sound more bluesy.

Try this out.

Put on a C backing track, solo over that chord with a C major pent scale for a while, then switch to a C minor pent scale, and notice that since it is a static chord, now the scale changes the sound of that chord from major to a more bluesy sound.

It is good to read about theory like this, but a lot of the times reading only can cause confusion. So make sure to test these theories out on the guitar, then your ears will get involved and it should make more sense, the theory plus the application.

Yes, that makes sense, also because c minor pent and c major pent are two different scales. My question was really referring to different scale modes that contain the same notes, ex. What if I play an Eb major pent over that c chord, instead of a c minor pent over that c chord. Once I get started into it, the c chord doesn't remember the note that I started with, i.e. root note. As it was stated earlier that the root note makes all the difference in the sound. Then it was restated that the underlying chord does?

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[The Professor]

That's it, C minor and Eb major pent have the same notes, they are just different fingerings on the guitar. So both will produce the same sound over a C chord, or Eb chord, because you are just repeating the same notes in a different part of the fingerboard. That's all.

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