Work on emphasizing the root notes of each chord with each shape. This lesson comes straight out of our flagship eBook Zero to Improv, which teaches you how to become a great jazz improviser from the ground up. The first scale most guitar players learn is the minor pentatonic scale. He actively performs around the New York metropolitan area and is the author of the Hal Leonard publication "Visual Improvisation for Jazz Guitar." Yes, if you’re “playing the chord changes” then you are changing scales to match the chord… otherwise, you can just play “in the key” of the song… and can play either the minor or major pentatonic scale of the key. How To Use The Minor Pentatonic Over Major Chords Hopefully, this will give you a useful way to organize and see the relationships between 7th chords and pentatonic scales. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Brent Vaartstra is a professional jazz guitarist and educator living in New York City. Third and fourth fingers are also used. To work out the key of any song, simply look at the song’s first and last chords. If you get value from the LJS Podcast, help us out by leaving a rating and review on iTunes or your favorite podcast service. Rather than playing "over" the chords… To further your insight into pentatonics, repeat the above exercise with the C Major pentatonic shapes below. One of the first scales many guitar students learn is the minor pentatonic scale. Transform your playing by using the Pentatonic Scale Cheat Sheets to get an inside look at The Pentatonic Way system. Here is a concept that is very helpful when trying to figure our quickly what pentatonics will work over diatonic seventh chords. Don't feel like you need to do this with all five scale shapes at once. 2) play a minor pentatonic from the root of a minor 7th chord. Thanks for sharing! Just as with the C chord, Em is almost identical to a scale, this time the E minor pentatonic scale. Again, see if you can spot the chord shape ‘hidden’ within the notes of the scale. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. It is believed to have been used way back in ancient times. It’s because the chord and scale share so many notes they always sound good played together. He is the head blogger and podcast host for learnjazzstandards.com which he owns and operates. Penatonic scales are familiar to many but are often not utilized to their full potential. You’d think that if the major pentatonic scale were good for one thing, it would be for playing over major chords. Scales don't have to be hard – and this lesson proves it! The white notes from C-C make a simple C major scale. The beauty of the major and minor pentatonic scales, is that they stay the same no matter what key you are in! WT = Whole Tone, HT = Half Tone. The beauty of the major and minor pentatonic scales, is that they stay the same no matter what key you are in! The C major pentatonic, formed from the root note, is: R 2 3 5 6, i.e. Listen to how the scale shapes sound different over each chord. You hopefully already know the C chord Just press down on the strings with your first, second and third fingers where the dots show you, then strum the top five strings! Listen in! For example, play A minor pentatonic over an A minor chord. One way to look at scales is to imagine a piano. If the song centers on a major chord (G), you play the G major pentatonic. Use your second finger for all of the 2nd fret notes in this lick. Welcome to episode 67 of the LJS Podcast where today we are talking about pentatonic scales and how you can use them to improvise over any kind of chord. An international media group and leading digital publisher to try lower shapes verse. And they work in any combination, order, and website in this lick how to use pentatonic scales with chords all scale! 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