The Major Pentatonic Scale

and Soloing In Major Keys

The major scale? Blues scales? Minor pentatonic scales? All of ’em?

There are several answers to this question…which can make it kind of confusing if you’re just starting out!

But there is one simple scale that worksgreat most of the time…the major pentatonic scale.

So if you need to kick start your major key soloing skills, aren’t sure what the major pentatonic scale is or how to play it, or if you just want to brush up your major key solos…then this episode of the ASK JAMES GUITAR SHOW is for you!

In this short lesson I’ll show you:

• How to play the major pentatonic scale (hint: if you know your minor pentatonic scale it’s easy!
• How to avoid the mistake many guitar players make in major keys (it don’t sound good!)
• How to spot a major key chord sequence so you know when to use the major pentatonic scale (this confused me for years…)

Have fun…and remember you can ASK A QUESTION on the Ask James Guitar Show page…

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The major pentatonic scale is the most commonly used guitar scale when playing a guitar solo in a major key. In this short lesson you’ll learn everything you need to know to get started playing and using the major pentatonic scale in your guitar solos.

Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll learn in this guitar lesson:

• 0:20 I’ve had lots of guitar players ask about how to play a guitar solo in a major key. In this lesson I’ll show you a simple hack for using your minor pentatonics in a major key as well!
• 0:55 Major keys and minor keys – what’s the difference? In a minor key it’s common to use the minor pentatonic scale to solo. But this won’t work in a major key. For that we need the major pentatonic scale.
• 1:25 If you take a minor pentatonic shape and move it down 3 frets it becomes a major pentatonic scale. This is a super handy because you can now use all your minor pentatonic scale patterns to solo in major keys. You can also recycle lots of your favourite pentatonic licks and bends into major pentatonic licks. They won’t always work but often they will.
• 3:25 I’m going to solo over a chord sequence in the key of D major. For this I can move my D minor pentatonic shape at the 10th fret down 3 frets to the 7th fret and play D major pentatonic scale.
• 4:51 You can hear how the major pentatonic scale fits great with the chord…sounding melodic and strong. Learn how to decide whether to play in major or minor when you play a solo.
• 5:23 Can you mix up major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scales on guitar. Yes you can, but it’s good to get the hang of using them seperately first before you try mixing them together.

Questions? Leave them in the form on the ASK JAMES GUITAR SHOW page

Hope this lesson helped you out and see you next time!

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You might also like

• The ‘Must Know’ Blues Guitar Scale and How to Use It!
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• How To Play The Major Pentatonic Scale
  17th December 2015
• How To Play The Sliding Blues Scale
  17th December 2015