Video Lesson 3-21-08 Using Major and Minor Pentatonics to hit Blues Changes

[mark wein]

Hi guys!

This weeks lesson was a lesson in patience for me...imploding computers, bad back and tax time :. I just got it done late tonight and I think it came out OK...check it out at:

http://blog.markwein.com/2008/03/21/...d-changes.aspx

[sunvalleylaw]

Wow, you have a knack for hitting on things that relate to what I happen to be working on, at least by the subject line. I will check it out. Thanks!

[mark wein]

Wow, you have a knack for hitting on things that relate to what I happen to be working on, at least by the subject line. I will check it out. Thanks!

Let me know how it goes!

I'm trying out a "web seminar" thing on my site on Tuesday...kind of like a free video chat room so if you (or anyone else) has questions stop on by...the details are on both my blog and the "markweinguitarlessons.com" site...

[sunvalleylaw]

Yep, these concepts are related to the concepts my instructor and i are working on. He has the shape of the "scale" we are using right now in a I, IV, V progression a bit different. He is having me use the notes from the barred D minor in the scale rather than the strict A major scale form as shown in the written stuff with your lesson, but we are working with that concept. Also, he has me starting to learn the Mixolydian mode as well. He wants me to understand pentatonic as a base, but broaden and add notes I can use, rather than get stuck in what he views as a limiting shape if that is all one uses. We have been spending a lot of time while I learn some of the theory and start to understand, so it is nice to get some phrases and licks to learn to bring the concepts to life. Thanks!

[mark wein]

Yep, these concepts are related to the concepts my instructor and i are working on. He has the shape of the "scale" we are using right now in a I, IV, V progression a bit different. He is having me use the notes from the barred D minor in the scale rather than the strict A major scale form as shown in the written stuff with your lesson, but we are working with that concept. Also, he has me starting to learn the Mixolydian mode as well. He wants me to understand pentatonic as a base, but broaden and add notes I can use, rather than get stuck in what he views as a limiting shape if that is all one uses. We have been spending a lot of time while I learn some of the theory and start to understand, so it is nice to get some phrases and licks to learn to bring the concepts to life. Thanks!

It sounds like you are doing some good stuff! I am not sure I understand the barred D Minor chord part, though....could it be a D Major for you to get the chord tones from?

[sunvalleylaw]

Yeah, that is where it is not quite the same this week. (Also, I realize the D Minor chord song we were using was Black Magic Woman, and the D Minor is the I chord. The V chord was the major in that case.) The idea is to be using chord tones that result with a 5th string root barre chord with a A minor shape. So it is not quite the major pentatonic. He also gave me a shuffle blues backer to work with that is A, D, E that I think is more specific to that exercise. The other songs we have been playing with, (Thrill is gone, Black magic Woman, to name two) each have a major in them.

In "Thrill", he had me move the chords down (from where I was playing B Minor at 7th fret) to barre B minor at fret 2, with the nearby, Em, G7 and F#7 barres. Thus, the shape he was having me learn has notes from the B minor chord in it. I am still figuring it out, and with the kids on spring break last week, have not put enough time in, but that is a part of what made sense during the last lesson. Basically, he wants me to find the notes in that position, then you can slide up using notes in extensions of the pentatonic scale to where you can play it in that key and box beginning on the 7th fret, then again move up the neck near the octave mark. His main point as I understand it is that as a practical matter, the barres are either rooted on the 6th or 5th strings, that pentatonic scales apply for either, but that further, the chord shapes give you more notes than the basic pentatonic scale. The major pentatonic also gives notes that are close to the 5th string root, A minor shaped chords. We are incorporating the major pentatonic scale, but the focus is on these chord tones right now.

Maybe I have it all muddled, but it is a work in progress.

P.S. He also covered "fudging" the minor third note as well with a bend, slide, etc.

[mark wein]

Yeah, that is where it is not quite the same this week. (Also, I realize the D Minor chord song we were using was Black Magic Woman, and the D Minor is the I chord. The V chord was the major in that case.) The idea is to be using chord tones that result with a 5th string root barre chord with a A minor shape. So it is not quite the major pentatonic. He also gave me a shuffle blues backer to work with that is A, D, E that I think is more specific to that exercise. The other songs we have been playing with, (Thrill is gone, Black magic Woman, to name two) each have a major in them.

In "Thrill", he had me move the chords down (from where I was playing B Minor at 7th fret) to barre B minor at fret 2, with the nearby, Em, G7 and F#7 barres. Thus, the shape he was having me learn has notes from the B minor chord in it. I am still figuring it out, and with the kids on spring break last week, have not put enough time in, but that is a part of what made sense during the last lesson. Basically, he wants me to find the notes in that position, then you can slide up using notes in extensions of the pentatonic scale to where you can play it in that key and box beginning on the 7th fret, then again move up the neck near the octave mark. His main point as I understand it is that as a practical matter, the barres are either rooted on the 6th or 5th strings, that pentatonic scales apply for either, but that further, the chord shapes give you more notes than the basic pentatonic scale. The major pentatonic also gives notes that are close to the 5th string root, A minor shaped chords. We are incorporating the major pentatonic scale, but the focus is on these chord tones right now.

Maybe I have it all muddled, but it is a work in progress.

P.S. He also covered "fudging" the minor third note as well with a bend, slide, etc.

Ahh..I didn't realize that you were playing minor blues.... I thought maybe you were superimposing a minor iv chord over the I and getting the 11th, b13th and #5th chord tones over the I chord!

I've been working too hard lately :

[sunvalleylaw]

Well, just working on it tonight on the fretboard and in my head, and figuring out what I what I was trying to say, and how it related to and differed from your lesson here helped me get it a bit better together in my head, so that helped anyhow! Basically, we are incorporating notes from the major scale in, but approaching it from chord tones.

[mark wein]

Well, just working on it tonight on the fretboard and in my head, and figuring out what I what I was trying to say, and how it related to and differed from your lesson here helped me get it a bit better together in my head, so that helped anyhow! Basically, we are incorporating notes from the major scale in, but approaching it from chord tones.

Cool! Sometimes just having to communicate an idea to someone else really helps "concrete" the concept ( or at least clarify it) in your head...one reason I love teaching...