Guitar Chords: How To Solo Over Chords With The Minor Pentatonic Scale

Soloing over guitar chords is easy when you knowMore about that later, too...
how to use the minor pentatonic scale. Add spice and3. Dominant 7th Chords
power to your solo's with these simple but highlyYou have a couple of choices here. But basically, you
effective techniques.would use the relative minor pentatonic, or the minor
The humble minor pentatonic scale is what most guitarpentatonic a tone below the root of the dom7 chord.
players start with when learning to solo. Trouble is, theyFor example, over G7, you could use either E minor
don't learn to use the scale to it's best potential.pent (relative minor), or D min pentatonic.
Here, I'll show you an easy way to use the pentatonicThe reason you could use the D minor pentatonic over
scale to solo over the three most common guitara G7 chord is because the Dmi chord and G7 chord
chord types: Major, minor and dominant 7th chords.often go together in chord progressions. Forcing a Dmi
1. Major Chordssound over a G7 chord gives a G7sus sound.
A Major chord always has a relative minor chord. The4. Thinking From a 'KEY" Perspective
easy way to find the 'relative' minor of any majorOK, what we have looked at is the KEY of C Major.
chord on a guitar is to take the note three half-steps (3And basically you can use just the A minor pentatonic
frets) below the root note of the major chord.alone for ALL the chords in C, or you can also use the
For example: a C major chord - the root note is C. OnD and E minor pentatonics to add some color and
a guitar, the note 3 frets below a C note is A.more conformity to the chords being used at the time.
Therefore, A minor is the relative minor of C major.Remember, these principles apply to whatever chord
So to solo over a C major chord, use the A minoryou are playing at any time, but can also be applied on
pentatonic scale and you can't go wrong.a KEY basis,which is a more encompassing picture.
Another example: F major chord - three frets belowThe Key of C Major has these chords:
the root of F, you will find D. So you use a D minorC, Dm, Em, F, G7, Am, Bmin7b5.
pentatonic scale over an F major chord.Ami pent can be used over them all, or just the C and
Another example: G major chord - three frets belowAm chords.
the G root note you'll find E. So... you use the E minorD min pentatonic can be used over the F and Dm
pentatonic to solo over a G chord.chords.
Now, you may have noticed that I listed C, F and GE minor can be used over the Em and G7 chords.
major chords there. Coincidentally, They are the 1, 4We didn't mention the 7 chord (Bmi7b5) because it's
and 5 chords of the 'KEY' of C Major. This applies tonot used very much. But a good choice is the Dm
all instruments, not just guitar.pentatonic. In fact, though, you can use either of the
More about this later...three pentatonics from the C Major scale - Am, Dm or
2. Minor ChordsEm. Try them, see which you like best.
These are easy... just use the minor pentatonic ofI hope you enjoyed this article. You can find more
what ever the minor chord is. E.g. Use D minorinformation about guitar chords at my site:
pentatonic for a D minor chord, an E minor pentatonicThe idea of using pentatonics for different chords is a
for an E minor chord, an A minor pentatonic for an Apowerful one, don't overlook the cool sounds you can
minor Chord.create with such a simple device.
Now, did you notice I used D, E and A minor chords asAlso, in a future article, I'll be discussing 'Pentatonic
the example? Did you also notice that these chordsSubstitution' where I'll show you how to use substitute
are the 2, 3 and 6 chords of the 'KEY' of C Major?and altered pentatonics for even more sound choices.