By Miguel Mega

Playing outside with minor and major pentatonic blues

Hi there , first of all I would like to thank Guitar Clinic to invite me to become a columnist so I can share some knowledge I got from all the years I have been studying the " Outside " world .
The very first tip is to concentrarte in intervals and not in shapes as usually  guitar teachers are used to explain scales and how to apply them . Of course for beginners it is the best way to explain because they do not have information enough to analyze any musical situation , but as the students get deeper into chords , scales , improvisation and harmonization it all gets clear .
So , let`s concentrate in intervals , taking the A minor blues pentatonic , it goes A ( root ) , C ( minor 3rd ) , D ( perfect 4th ) , Eb ( flat 5th - blue note ) , E ( perfect 5th ) and G ( minor 7th ) . These intervals are worthy to focus because they are actually the connection between chords and scales .
If we take the A major blues pentatonic we will have the next intervals : A ( root ) , B ( major 2nd ) , C ( minor 3rd - blue note ) , C# ( major 3rd ) , E ( perfect 5th ) and F# ( major 6th ) .
The mix of these two scales fit perfectly over 7 chords , if we take the A7 chord we will have : A ( root ) , C# ( major 3rd ) , E ( perfect 5th ) and G ( minor 7th ) because the minor blues pentatonic will match the root , perfect 5th and minor 7th and the major blues pentatonic will match the root , major 3rd and perfect 5th and that`s why the best way to improvise over 7 chords ( mixolydian mode ) starts combining those two scales that give us 9 out of the 12 notes we have in ocidental music , pretty hip !!!
In ex. 1 , I mixed the ascendimg major blues pentatonic starting in the 5 th position and then descend the minor blues pentatonic in the same 5th position . In ex. 2 I use the same approach in E , ascending  the major blues pentatonic  starting with an open E  and then mix to a descending  E minor blues pentatonic in the same open position .
Do not forget to extend this study to the other 4 patterns of the major/minor blues patterns ( shapes ) singing along to the notes  saying the intervals and not the notes so you can always compare all the intervals to the root .
After you get more confortable with the concept , the sound and the shapes ( at first ) , put a nice Blues backing track and try to apply this concept in your improvisation and welcome to the "outside" world  .
In the next editions I will go further in this concept extending it to more complex scales and chords .
Good luck , Good study and Good music for everybody !
Peace !!

Miguel Mega

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email : miguelmega@uol.com.br

sites : www.musicgatebrasil.com ; www.miguelmega.com.br