Stop 3 of 5
The major pentatonic and mixing
The relative major, the country sound and when to mix both.
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Stop 3 of 5
The relative major, the country sound and when to mix both.
Everything you have improvised so far had the dark, rebellious colour of the minor pentatonic. Now you are going to switch the lights on. The uses the same five shapes you already know, just placed somewhere else, and it sounds open, happy and singable: it's the sound of country, of a lot of pop and of the brightest rock. Best of all, in the blues you can mix the two and go from sparkle to grit within a single bar.
Both scales start and end on A. Listen to them one after the other:
The first sounds serious, with a hint of sadness or defiance; the second, bright, almost childlike. The difference lives in the third: C in the minor, C♯ in the major. Both scales share the root and the fifth (A and E), but the rest of their character changes completely.
The major pentatonic contains degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the : it is the major scale without its 4th and 7th.
The major scale has two half steps: between the 3rd and 4th, and between the 7th and 8th. The 4th and 7th also form the , the scale's most tense interval. The major pentatonic removes those two notes: it is left with no half steps and no tritone. None of its notes urgently needs to resolve and none clashes hard with the tonic major chord. That's why it is so easy to sound good with it, and why so many folk melodies around the world are pentatonic.
Here's the good news. A major pentatonic has exactly the same notes as F♯ minor pentatonic, its relative minor. And since you already know the minor boxes, you already know the major ones: just move the shape three frets towards the nut.
Compare the two necks. Above, box 1 of A minor; below, the same shape at fret 2, which sounds like A major:
String 6, Fret 5: A2 · 1 · Root
String 6, Fret 2: F♯2 · 6 · Scale tone
The trick doesn't only work for box 1: all five boxes of the minor pentatonic, moved down three frets, are the five boxes of the major pentatonic. Put another way, the full map of notes on the neck is the same for A major and F♯ minor; the only thing that changes is which notes you treat as "home". A practical way to remember it:
If you ever get lost, find the root on the 6th string and ask yourself which finger should be on it: index for minor, little finger for major.
The A major scale starts on A; its sixth degree is F♯. Play the same seven notes starting from that sixth degree and you get the F♯ natural minor scale: same material, different centre. From the first degree down to the sixth is a minor third, that is, three half steps. The pentatonics inherit that relationship: the five notes of A major pentatonic, starting from F♯, are the F♯ minor pentatonic.
The major pentatonic has gestures that instantly sound like country and southern rock. The most typical is the 2nd-to-3rd bend: B bent a whole step up to C♯.
Another classic device imitates the pedal steel guitar: bend one note while the neighbouring string holds the note you are heading for, a major-key :
The rule is simple and you hear it straight away:
A major pentatonic
Works over A, over songs in A major (A, D, E) and over the A7 chord of a blues. Its C♯ confirms the chord's major third.
A minor pentatonic
Works over Am, over songs in A minor and over the whole blues (rock included). Over A major it creates the typical blues friction between C and C♯.
What does not work is the major pentatonic over a minor chord: its C♯ crashes head-on into the C of Am. Hear the clash, then the right version:
In a blues every chord is a dominant seventh, and that opens the door to mixing. The most common approach:
| Chord | Suggested scale | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A7 (I) | A major pentatonic, or a mix | Its C♯ is the chord's 3rd |
| D7 (IV) | A minor pentatonic | Its C is the ♭7 of D7; the major's C♯ would clash |
| E7 (V) | both; minor adds tension | Neither clashes hard; listen to which you prefer |
The gesture that best sums up mixing is the move from ♭3 to 3: you play C and push it up to C♯ with a hammer-on, a slide or a small bend. It's the smile that breaks through the lament.
In the first bar (over A7) you hear C♯ and F♯, from the major. In the second (over D7) you return to the minor: G, E, D, C, ending on A, the chord's fifth.
With the A drone sounding, play box 1 of A minor (frets 5–8) up and down in eighth notes. Then move the same shape down to fret 2 and play the major pentatonic. Always end on A.
Notice the moment you play the third: C (minor) or C♯ (major). The whole emotion of the scale changes on that one note.
Goal: Play each scale up and down over the drone and clearly hear the colour change on the third.
Use the two licks from the country scene as a starting point and vary them. Leave space: a two-bar phrase, two bars of silence.
Goal: Improvise two passes using only the major pentatonic, with at least one 2nd-to-3rd bend per pass, ending on A.
Play the mixing lick in bars 1–2 and 5–6 and improvise the rest following the table: major (fret 2) over A7, minor (fret 5) over D7.
Goal: One full chorus changing scale with the chord: major in the A7 bars, minor in the D7 bars.
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