by Tom Watson

Goal: Learn to improvise over a chord progression using form 1 of the major pentatonic scale.

How: By using these notes to improvise over this chord progression.

---

Introduction

A major pentatonic scale? Ouch - that sounds complicated! Scales? Who needs them? After all, in a recent MG Magazine interview, legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy said, "...I don't need a scale. I just need the heart and mind and soul...", a point of view that's worked well for Buddy Guy.

In reality, though, Buddy does need a scale, or two, because whether he acknowledges it or not, the single notes he uses to improvise belong to a scale. Or, let's put it this way, he may not feel he needs scales, but he uses them.

What Guy is really saying is that what he doesn't feel he needs is the theoretical knowledge of what scale(s) goes with what chord(s). And of course, he's correct: Years of experience has engrained this information in his heart, mind, soul...and fingers.

For the rest of us though, a knowledge of scales (and chords) will go a long way toward speeding up the process of "knowing" what notes work well with different chords.

Yes, a "major pentatonic scale" sounds complicated. But luckily, as you'll see, it isn't. Some of the names for things used in music sound much more complicated than what they represent.

For those to whom this is all new territory, let's take a minute to talk about the basics.

Scales

What is a scale? The answer can be quite complex, but for the moment let's just think of it as a group of related single notes. The classic example of a scale is Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do, otherwise known as the major scale. In the key of C, the major scale includes the notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C - the second C being one octave higher than the first.

What came first - the scale or the chord?

Scales and chords go hand in hand. If we pick the three notes from the major scale that seem to work best together, we have the major chord. In the key of C, if we play the notes C, E, and G together, we have the C major chord. Of course, other chords can be built from the C major scale, but we'll talk more about that later.

Chord progressions

Very few songs contain only one chord. Most songs contain a number of chords. When a song moves from one chord to another, it is said to "progress". Over time, various progressions of chords have come to be viewed as "standard". For example, the chords C, F, and G - based on the first (I), fourth (IV) and fifth (V) notes of the C major scale - comprise the chords of the standard "blues" progression of C-F-C-F-C-G-F-C, or, using Roman numerals: I-IV-I-IV-I-V-IV-I. We'll also talk more later about why we sometimes refer to chords using Roman numerals instead of alphabetic letters.

The question is...

You want to improvise a single note solo to a certain chord or progression of chords. The question simply is, what notes will "work" with that particular chord or progression of chords? To answer that question and start jamming, you have to ask and answer a few more questions first.

Major or minor?

Popular Western music (we're talking geography, not genre) is written around a basic major chord or minor chord - making the song either "major" or "minor". There's just a one note difference between a basic major chord and a basic minor chord. For example, the C major chord is made up of three notes: C, E, and G. The C minor chord is made up of C, Eb (b=flat), and G.

So, the first question you have to answer before ripping into your solo is whether the underlying chord/progression is based on a major or a minor chord. If your band is playing a C-F-G chord progression, you don't want to play notes that come from a minor scale.

In this first lesson, we are only going to be concerned with improvising a simple solo based on the major scale.

Which major scale will we use?

We've decided that the song we want to solo to is based on the major scale, but now we have to figure out which major scale.

Most popular songs are in a particular "key". That means they were written around one of the basic notes - A, B, C, D, E, F, or G (not including the flats or sharps of each). Before we can begin soloing, we have to know what key we're playing in.

Throughout this first lesson, and several of the following lessons, we'll be looking at the key of A major.

Welcome to the key of A major

The major scale in A (A major) consists of the following notes: A, B, C# (#=sharp), D, E, F#, G#, A. The primary (I) major chord of A major is - A major - which is made up of the notes A, C# and E.

There are other important chords associated with the key of A major, in fact, you can build a chord based on each note of the A major scale. But for right now, we will only focus on three important chords in A major: A major (A, C# and E), D major (D, F# and A), and E major (E, G# and B). These three chords, A, D and E, are also referred to as I (A), IV (D), and V (E), again, the Roman numerals representing the position of the note in the major scale.

Basic chord progression

We're getting close to playing our first improvised solo. "Improvised", by the way, simply means made up on the spot.

We have decided that the song we're improvising to is in the key of A major and is made up of a simple and basic chord progression: A-D-A-E-A-D-A-E-A. For the moment, we're using the very basic forms of these major chords - not adding any altered notes. Therefore, the three chords are:

A major = A, C#, E
D major = D, F#, A
E major = E, G#, B

The chord progression of A-D-A-E-A-D-A-E-A will be played in standard 4/4 time, which means four beats per measure, a quarter note receiving one beat.

Improv Lesson One Chord Progression [back to top]

Here is the chord progression we'll be looking at with the number of beats each chord will receive in parenethesis:

A(4)-D(4)-A(4)-E(4)-A(4)-D(4)-A(2)-E(2)-A(4). When you reach the end, just go back to the beginning and repeat it - over and over again.

Here's a basic sound sample of the chord progression:

STREAM: "A major" chord progression

Yes, I know, not a particularly lovely chord progression, but a good solid sample to work with as we make our first attempt at improvising.

The stage is set

The chord progression's in place and the band's waiting for us to solo. Now we're back to the original question - what notes can I use?

Since we're in A major and all of the chords in the underlying song are built on the A major scale, the A major scale itself would be a good starting point, but let's take an even easier approach.

There are eight notes in the A major scale: A, B, C# (#=sharp), D, E, F#, G#, A, but before we tackle the full scale, we're going to use a shorter version of it called the "major pentatonic scale". Whew - "major pentatonic scale" is a mouthful. Don't worry. The major pentatonic scale is just a "Lite" version of the major scale - six notes instead of eight.

Let's compare the two.

8 note major scale in the key of A: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A
6 note major pentatonic scale in the key of A: A, B, C#, E, F#, A

Take a listen:

STREAM: "A major" scale

STREAM: "A major" pentatonic scale

Note: Technically speaking, there are only 5 notes in the major pentatonic scale. I said "6" above because I added a second root note so the scale would start and end on a root. Same is true of the full major scale discussed above: Technically, it has 7 notes, not 8, but the second root note was added so the scale started and ended on a root. In fact, the name "pentatonic" includes the word "penta" which means five.

We're just about ready to improvise - we have a chord progression and we know what notes we're going to use (the A major pentatonic scale of A, B, C#, E, F#, A).

But first we need to look at where we're going to play those pentatonic scale notes on the guitar's fretboard. The fun is about to begin.

The guitar fingerboard and scale patterns

As we go along, I'll talk more and more about the theory behind what makes all of this "work", but for right now I want you to take my word for something - the guitar fretboard is laid out in such a way that just about every scale you'll ever play can be learned in one of five scale patterns. It's a concept that's a mix of how barre chords can be moved up and down the frets and how different fingerings of the same chord can be used for different voicings. But, for right now, just take my word for it.

Form 1 of the major pentatonic scale in A major

Let's take a look at our first scale form - form 1 of the major pentatonic scale in A major:

[back to top]

And take a listen:

STREAM: Form 1 of the major pentatonic scale in A major

That's it! The notes above are what we're going to use for our first improvisation, so now it's time to put it all together.

Key: A major
Chord progression: A(4)-D(4)-A(4)-E(4)-A(4)-D(4)-A(2)-E(2)-A(4)
Notes to use for improvised solo: A, B, C#, E, F#, A (the A major pentatonic scale)
Where to play on the fretboard: Form 1 of the A major pentatonic scale (diagram above)

I suggest you download the MP3 of the underlying chord progression (or make your own) to practice improvising using form 1 of the major pentatonic scale in the key of A major diagrammed above.

Note: Make sure your guitar is tuned to the "standard tuning" - E, A, D, G, B, E. If you need help, you can tune your guitar by ear online at www.dreadscott.com/Guitar.html (and even download a tuner you can use when not online) or at www.gieson.com/Library/projects/utilities/tuner (very nice interface).

Here's a sample of me improvising to it (all of the solo notes come from form 1 of the major pentatonic scale in A major as diagrammed above):

STREAM: Basic improvisation

Also...

1. It's OK to "noodle". Noodling is simply free-form improvisation, or another way of saying improv P-R-A-C-T-I-C-E. With the above, you have a scale pattern to use to improvise with to the supplied chord progression. The question now is how do I use the "permitted" notes to make something that sounds "good". Your ear (and those of your audience) are the final judge. As we go along we'll talk about things like "phrasing" and "riffs" - pointers on how to put some single notes together to form pleasing solo lines. For right now - just have at it!

Pointer: If your noodling sounds too much like stream of consciousness gibberish (which it will at first), try noodling around the "root" note. In the scale form above, A is the root note and represented by the open dots. Think of the root note as a safe harbor - a place to start and a place to finish.

2. Embellishment. There are several guitar techniques that help turn simple notes into something that may sound more pleasing - such as bends, vibrato, arpeggios, slides, pull-offs and hammer-ons. These too we'll discuss down the road. Right now, just noodle.

3. Listen! Ear training is a critical element of developing your ability to improvise. Let your ears tell you what works and what doesn't - and listen to as much professional improvisation as you can - famous guitar players, sax players, pianists - even vocalists.

4. Wait a minute - what I call "form 1 of the major pentatonic scale in A major" is the same thing as the minor pentatonic in F#m (or even the "blues pentatonic" in F# major)! That's right, it is. Actually, it's even more than that - it has other applications as well, but we have to leave that for future articles. For the moment, if you practice the form 1 major pentatonic in A giving emphasis to the root note (A), it will function with the A major chord progression given above, despite its potential use in other circumstances. If you don't know what I'm talking about here, skip this paragraph.

5. To what style of music does this information apply - jazz, rock, blues, country, etc.? Answer: it applies to all of them. We'll discuss stylistic differences in the future. For right now just remember that the theory behind improvising underlies every style or genre of music.

6. Patience required! If you're new to improvising please understand that it's not something you master overnight. In fact, very few, if any, ever "master" it at all. The "trick" is to have fun improvising. Rely on your ear and don't hesitate to be "creative" or "experimental". After all, improvising is nothing more than a method of musical self-expression.

We have a lot more ground to cover, but at least we've broken the ice and you have some chords and a scale you can use to get your feet wet. We'll expand our knowlege of improvising in each installment of this column. In the next installment, we'll learn form 2 of the A major pentatonic scale and begin a discussion of how this scale pattern relates to basic chord forms.

Have fun! [back to top]