In my last blog post, I talked about how at my Chicago guitar lesson studio, students often ask which Pentatonic scales will work over a given chord progression. So, in that post, I talked about how to identify which Major and Minor Pentatonic scales you could use to solo in a key and how to find them on the guitar. Here is a link to part one of the guitar lesson. In this lesson, I’d like to go a bit further and talk about other choices for Pentatonic scales you could use for soloing while still remaining in the same key, and how to find these other scales on the guitar.

Two More Minor Pentatonic Scales That Will Work

In addition to the minor pentatonic scale usage above, you can also start a minor pentatonic scale on both the 2nd and 3rd degree of the key that you’re soloing in. Starting on the 2nd and 3rd ‘degree’ simply means starting the scale on the 2nd note or the 3rd note of the key’s major scale. So, if you’re in the key of G, you could use an A minor pentatonic (the 2nd degree), or a B minor pentatonic (the 3rd degree). This is in addition to the minor pentatonic usage above, which in the key of G would be an E minor pentatonic.

And, Yes, There’s Two More Major Pentatonic Scales That Will Work Too!

Remembering what we said about the major pentatonic/minor pentatonic scale relationship on the guitar, you could use the major pentatonic scale that is the same as each of these two minor scales. So, you could also use C major pentatonic, which is the exact same thing as A minor pentatonic, and D major pentatonic, which is the exact same thing as B minor pentatonic. This gives you a total of 3 minor pentatonic scales and 3 major pentatonic scales you could use. In the key of G, those scales would be: E, A, and B minor pentatonic and G, C, and D major pentatonic.

A Lot of Possibilities!

All of these possibilities will give you slightly different sounds, since each one will be using a different set of notes from the key that you are in, so try experimenting with them. What I would suggest is to make sure that you are comfortable with the Pentatonic scales from the first guitar lesson, before moving on to these ones. Make sure that you’re able to apply them to different keys and that you feel comfortable soloing with them. When you have that, then move on to working on soloing. These are not the only possibilities for the use of pentatonic scales, but are a good start!

Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the guitar lesson! I’m just getting started with this blog, so definitely bookmark me and check back regularly for more exciting guitar stuff!

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