GUITAR
Dan Gillies is a freelance musician, performer, music director, clinician, and guitar instructor who makes his home in Fort McMurray, AB. He
released his self-titled debut instrumental record in the fall of 2014 and continues to “live the dream” journeying with his guitar. You can
contact Dan and learn more on his website: www.dangilliesmusic.com.
By Dan Gillies
T
What’s Minor Is Major
he first scale many of us learn when we venture into lead guitar
is the all-powerful pentatonic scale, or more specifically, the
minor pentatonic and first of five shapes.
We’re told the greatest soloists of all time – King, Clapton, Page,
SRV, Slash, and numerous others – all thrived on this scale. The trick
is knowing how to apply it (i.e. how it sounds over various changes)
and how to be musical with it.
There are great resources on developing the minor pentatonic
scale, whether by patterns, exercises, or licks. They can illustrate how
this scale appears across the fingerboard – in five vertical shapes – and
speak to developing phrases horizontally with those shapes. In this
column, you will learn how to take the scale we all love and use it in
different musical scenarios.
For theory diehards, the two most popular pentatonic scales we
use are the minor and major pentatonic. The minor is built using the
1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 in relation to its “parallel” major scale; the major is
built using the 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 of a major scale. When you compare a minor
pentatonic to its “relative” major pentatonic, you get the same notes!
This means that the pentatonic shape we learn as beginners is both
a minor and major pentatonic scale!
Let’s use the A minor pentatonic scale to illustrate this. Starting
on the low E string, fifth fret, you get these notes: A, C, D, E, G. If we
compare this to an A major scale, you’ll see that the degrees men-
tioned above have been applied. If we start from the second note of
the scale on the low E string, eighth fret, you get these notes: C, D, E,
G, A – the same degrees as a C major pentatonic scale; therefore, an
A minor pentatonic scale has the same notes as a C major pentatonic
scale (relatives!) and you can use that one shape to solo over a variety
of styles in either major or minor keys.
Here are some examples:
EX. 1
Ex. 1 is in the style of Jimmy Page.
Try it ove r an A minor rock progression.
Ex. 2 has a country rock feel. Play it
over a C major or C7 progression.
Ex. 3 is in the style of Stevie Ray
Vaughan. It combines notes from the
minor and major pentatonic scales as
well as a flat fifth. Try this over an A7
or A6 slow blues progression.
EX. 2
Next, try interchanging these licks
over each progression to hear how
the phrase changes with a new har-
mony. Learn the five “vertical” penta-
tonic shapes across the fingerboard
and play them in different keys. Try
adding chromatics and bends to spice
things up, and most importantly, learn
to play solos by your favourite play-
ers! Chances are they’re all using this
scale too…
EX. 3
Check out Dan’s video version
of this lesson at:
www.dangilliesmusic.com/index.
php/lessons/
W W W. C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N . CO M
C A N A D I A N M U S I C I A N • 25