How to use the Major Pentatonic in a Blues (and sound good)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- 👉 Learn BLUES LEAD GUITAR for free: www.justinguit... In this series, we'll learn how to use the Major Pentatonic in a Blues. We'll start with the basics! So many people hit an awful note (the C# over a D7 Chord) when playing a Blues and I want it never to be you! Hope you dig it! #justinguitar #guitarforbeginners #bluesguitar
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Lesson 2 is live now - a super easy and fun lick that will really help you get 'playing the changes' :) www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/major-pentatonic-study-lick-1-bl-802
looking forward to lick 2 :-) Keep em coming!! I am in the middle of my lead blues experience :-)
Hey, ya BACK Juz! Been a while cobber!
love the sound of that p90 - did you put that in ? cheers
@@TheMichaelseymour or is it a P90 size mini humbucker
@@Havanacuba1985 -Or possibly a P-100?
I have played guitar for 9000 years and this lesson finally made it make sense to me.
after 857 years of playing guitar this lesson taught me a lot
After 30+ years of playing, I've had one of the biggest eye openers in this - you can't just move your licks down 3 frets and expect them to sound good! Thank you for this, suddenly this all makes perfect sense!
Damn 30+ years and you haden't figured that out yet?
Surprising that such a critical area of playing like this hasn't been thoroughly covered yet. Once again, Justin to save the day. You're the man and you somehow have such a great sense of what the general guitar player population is missing/needs.
After having played guitar on and off for 40+ years this lesson was a revelation and a lot of things are now starting to make sense - thank you so much for this excellent lesson
Glad you like it - just editing the next few lessons in the series and it's shaping up really well I think (hope!).
@@Ana_crusis I also don't want to sound rude, but if you think you can make such an absolute judgement by reading one single line, I'd guess you did not understand some really basic things in music (and life), that lie beyond notes, chords, patterns and concepts.
And, if in your eyes guitar is not something for Steve, what is your point in telling him? Does it make you feel better? Why not just be happy with him?
@@jorn-jorenjorenson5028 yes you are right. I really am awful sometimes. I apologise
@@Ana_crusis Dude, good for you man. Its the internet, sometimes it brings out the bad,
You are hands down the best guitar teacher on you tube.. thanks Justin. Keep up the good work mate.
Anyone new to this info owes Justin a HUGE thank you. I spent a lot of time when I was younger trying to figure this crap out. (yes, it was before TH-cam) but still....no one teaches this!
Justin is the absolute best teacher, can't thank him enough. Question for anyone who knows: Why can't you use A major pentatonic over an A, D, and E change? They are all in the key of A. Is this just for a blues sound and using the blue notes? I get the flavor of a minor over it but why is A major wrong? I must be missing something.
4:46 "it just ain't right" I spit my coffee out when i saw that part. Summed it all up in one sentence Justin you are the best!
Extremely fine explanations of the difference in playing the right/wrong pattern in blues. Once I heard a band in an open air gig, I couldn't exactly hear, whats goin on, and now , some years later, I checked it: The guy used the minor pent over a major blues! It felt like someone spit in my beer and gave me a punch into my stomach, but nearly the whole crowd even didn't recognize it (@that time I was a student in music beginner class, but it felt horrible to hear that)! Thanks for learning with and from you and I will join your homepage program!!! Thanks, Henry
There are literally dozens of videos on the net talking about mixing minor and major scales. This one is exceptional for making sense of it all. Thank you so much Justin!
i have been trying to play guitar since i was 21 and and now 62. Not a natural and it is hard work to learn. So, practice and playing as you suggest. Never been much of improvised soloist. I love theory BUT this is the best posted tip on how to solo I have ever come across. I have been using your site for years and have learnt heaps. I found that if you want to play gigs and jam, learn the Bass or drums because they are crucial in a band and very rare in Perth WA. Playing bass is easy to pick up if you already know guitar and even if you only play root notes, the guys will take you under their wing and help you to improve. I had been playing bass for 10 months and was asked to play in some gigs at the local pub. was scared sh*tless and it is hard to relax but generally you cannot see any audience due to lighting effects. As long as you got the timing, play the basic notes and a couple of chromatic lines every one is happy. It helps to play in the same key. Practice your song list with the guys and at home and Keep on rockin'. cheers Terry
Man, that first statement about when you can play the major pentatonic: pure gold, lightglobe!
No one every told me that you can't play the major pentatonic over every chord as you do the minor. Super useful. THANK YOU!
I play guitar in a local Rockabilly Band and love western swing, blues, jazz guitar. I have a lot of bad habits, but when I do the D part in the A bar blues scale I incorporate rolling from the E note 5th fret on the B string to the F# 7th note B String then finally A on the E String. Or using slide stops on the notes F Sharp on B string and A note on E String. With the rolling I use three fingers, 1st, 2nd and third fingers. If you play the F# on the B and the A note on the E, it'll fit with the D. I've been playing guitar since I was fourteen only had one lesson and the rest I taught myself. The guitar teacher back then is still playing today, busking around Europe. The best recommendation for anyone learning the guitar is to listen carefully to the music and work out what fits best.
When I started learning lead guitar, I was listening to very advanced musicians, like Grady Martin, Cliff Gallup, Brian Setzer. the licks these players played just blew me away, especially Grady Martin. He played lead guitar for Red Foley, Johnny Burnette, Gene Vincent and also done session work too, for obscure recording artists of the 50's. Loads of videos here on TH-cam with Grady Martin. His phrasing was just spot on. I'm having to go back to basics, because of all the bad habits I have accumulated over the years. It's a bit like driving and all the habits people pick up, after maybe a year or so after passing their test, like not indicating, or putting their seatbelt on after they've driven off. I have the same sort of thing with too many influences in my playing. Some people say that's a good thing, I reckon I need to just take a back seat for a while and listen to what I'm trying to play, rather than just improvise all the time. The band I'm in we're called The Tea N Biscuit Boys. We've all been in and out of bands over the years, my brother and I started off as drummers, then I went onto guitar, tried double bass and bass guitar, keyboards too and harmonica. I'm now 47 years old and still learning. There is always something new to learn, when you've been playing as long as I have and enjoying your videos. Thank you
This is really good. I'm entirely self taught. Im 35 and I've been playing most my life. Been playing seriously for 20+ years. I don't recommend this. You could learn in 5 yrs what tool me decades! Still, it was useful for developing my ear somewhat. I seen your lessons with Lee Anderton and want you to know that you're a great teacher. Really. They are the most useful lessons I've ever seen given away and I want you to know how much I appreciate it. I subbed to your channel because of this. I don't have much, but I would like to support you if I can. I have to figure that out. Great work. What a great guy you are!
This would be super helpful to any late stage beginner looking to enter the world of intermediate! You'll be able to solo much more musically by really digging into this excellent lesson! So much good stuff in just 15 minute! Highly recommended! 😘
“…when you change the chord from an A to a D, you need to change the scale from an A-major pentatonic to a D-major pentatonic.” After listening to 200 videos over the last couple years, this is the first I ever heard of this. Justin should be a guitar teacher for guitar teachers.
Justin, you earned another subscription for two reasons: 1) you're a great teacher and 2) you don't feel obligated to end every demo phrase with vibrato. Note to other teachers: we get it! We won't die if you don't waggle the last note.
I love how old u and Marty are now. It was nice growing up with u guys teaching us guitar. One American one British.
Man, I think you’re the best teacher out there on internet land. I keep turning friends and guitar colleagues on to you, and I keep coming back! Thanks, good job!!
Been playing guitar for over 25 years, this lesson was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!
Great lesson Justin, exactly what I needed..been stuck with minor pents and couldn't work out what to do with the majors for so long, your a star..!!
Finally, after all these years, the answer to the question I was unable to formulate, other than why does that sound crap! A massive light bulb moment for me. Many thanks Justin. Definitely one of the best tutors on youtube.
I never looked at it this way as being right or wrong. I see it as being slightly modial in sound. If you stayed in the Amajor box when the chord shifts to the 5th/D..giving a sharp 4th b5th element adding tension. BUT that modial thing is no longer the BLUES!! Thanks for adding the clarity. I’m all the more wiser now. BUT let’s not forget that it’s an art form where anything goes. You helped me understand a rule that I now can break … Picasso could paint realism before he broke the perspective reality plane and entered in Cubism thank you Jusitn
This guy is such a great teacher, probably a good fella as well. He taught me a lot about guitar since I've stared to learn it, you and Marty are the best so far.
Best regards Justin.
Indeed! Between Justin and Marty, we have everything we need to learn guitar.
Nice lessons, well explained.
Thanks Justin, I hate it when people make video "tutorials" and tell people to play major pentatonic scale over blues WITHOUT telling these details
Great video. When I learned this years ago the tip I always remembered when soloing using a major pentatonic was to resolve on the root note. Whereas in a minor you have the option of a nice sound resolving on the 5th l, you don’t have that option when it’s major.
Great video! When u don't have anyone to answer outright questions and you're learning with TH-cam, some video's are like light bulb moments so eye opening. This was one for me.
justin you are an incredible gift to the guitar playing community. i'm going to jump to the website and make a contribution, it's important to give back. no, i'm not a shill poster, but i'm going to encourage everyone who sees this comment and has benefitted from justin's generosity to make a contribution they are comfortable with. giving back is what makes things like these great lessons possible for us all to benefit from.
I am using the Minor Pentatonic over Minor Backingtracks all the time. As my wife is learning the piano and is currently only able to play Major, I was trying to do the same yesterday evening and I failed miserably, because I just used the C-Major Scale and it sounded horrible! So your video comes right in time! Thanks a ton!
C-Major Scale and A-Minor Scale have the absolute same shape and tones, just the pronouncing of the root notes will be the difference (C vs. A- done by the player) , so this would both fit to the song on a piano in C Major or in any other chord, but will be boring after some time.
C-Major/AMinor sounding horrible with a piano playing some Major scale stuff is more likely due to different/bad tunings of one or both instruments or simply because you were hitting the wrong notes, missing the right shapes ;)
Wow. This was an eye-opener. Wish I'd known this 40 years ago. I'm a classical pianist and pipe organist, learning guitar. The minor pentatonic sounds like blues, of course. The major pentatonic reminds me of American country western. I never noticed that before.
I've been watching your videos since 2007! Great work I always learn something new. Now my son is watching the same videos on his journey to guitar greatness. Keep it up justin
I've been chasing this concept for 5 yrs. This made it all click. Thank you my man
Like the other commentators, I've been playing quite a while and have made some real howlers trying to use the maj pentatonic. Now I understand why!! Excellent vid
These lessons are really inspiring to get me out of the rut + the ones with Lee, because I'm kinda on his level but not improving much throughout the years. Thanks Justin!
This video popped up and I recognised you! I watched some of your videos 8 years ago and they really helped me when I started learning guitar. I am really not very good but your vids helped me learn the songs I love. I was playing a song I learnt from you - 'wish you were here' - to my 2 year old son the other day! Thank you so much.
This is probably the best explanation of this I've ever heard.
Indeed! Justin is an awesome teacher!
Thanks dude!
No-one teaches like Justin.
This is the lesson I've been missing! I've been looking for these answers for years! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!
this is one of the most useful lessons i've found on youtube thank you justin.
As for me, you never have to apologize for explaining concepts. Theory is not a four letter word. Thanks for all you do!
Greatest online guitar teacher ever. Seriously check his website and start from the beginner lessons. Tabs are good, but theory is god
Thank you very much for this lesson. To me, it looked subtle but made a huge difference. I tried after your lesson.
For deeper understanding i guess it would be helpful to explain the parallel minor/major scales
The great thing is, you can use exact the same 5 Boxes for all Pentatonic scales and one exact scale has a equivalent in minor when it is major and the other way round: fe example the shown scales in the video -> Aminor is also= CMajor ; AMajor is also= Fsharp minor
to know that and to know the different places of the root notes in each Box enables to find every scale you will relatively quickly A
As explained in the video: Box 1 (shape as seen with AMinor): Minor root note(RN): is on 6th (low E) string lower fret and 4th string higher fret, Major root note: is on 6th string higher fret and on 3rd string lower fret etc
I think that more instructors should just teach the Pentatonic scale as 1 big pattern covering the entire fretboard. If you learn all of the Minor pentatonic scale positions then you already know all of the Major scale positions as well, and it's just a matter of finding the root note for whichever scale you want to play.
I understand that splitting the pentatonic scale into separate 'boxes' might make it less intimidating to learn, but once you see that the 'boxes' all interconnect and form a single pattern covering the entire fretboard, then (IMHO) things start to make a lot more sense.
Good point👍 the moment one has memorized all 5 box patterns that concept of boxes should be given up and seen as one pattern. A thinker will anyway notice, that a single box is always half of the previous and half of the following box and that the end of the last box is exactly the start of the first.
Hence relative minor & relative Major.
Great lesson. If you’ve learned by “shapes”, this lesson will save you a lot of time in recognizing that major and minor are their own thing even if the same shape, albeit on different frets.
Man thank you so much , I don’t think think most people understands the seriously of what you are teaching, man I do appreciate it so much , this is the back bone of playing properly and mature . That’s the juice and spice in the meat , I’ve been trying to understand this for years , all those legendary players such as Albert King , Jimmy Page , Ritchie Blackmore and Johnny Winter knew and knows that very well , Specially Slash , Slash have amazing solos changes over chords changes he’s spotless . Thank you valuable insight man I sure took it in seriously . Australia 🇦🇺
That is actually the best material on whole UTube about major pentatonic use! Big thanks!
Thanks, Justin!
This is incredibly useful, st least to me.
I love the goofy look on your face when you were "janmin' on Major Pentatonic in A."
Ha, ha, ha!
This is good stuff. I def understand the differences in the function of the notes.
So far, i try to start away from Major P. This is exactly what i need!
8:28. No need to apologize for hitting that Blue note, I just think if it as you throwing in some (mmm, forgot the name, the stepwise half-tones...)
12:00 You got almost that same look, but with more "cringe" when you played A Maj P over the D Maj!
You're so expressive! Love it!
A great teacher. Thanks! I'm going through this whole series. I like your lessons, very informative, it just makes sense. 👍 👌
Great lesson. I always made that mistake for playing along the major scale the over all the 12 bar. Justin, you resolve the mystery. Thank you very much!
Damn... where were you in 1983 when I was playing the minor pentatonic over everything and in 1993 when I descovered the major pentatonic but couldn’t understand why it sounded wrong on the four chord!? Iife changing... suddenly it all makes sense .... Thank you!
I feel like this has been the missing link in my blues playing, my mind is flashing back to a band i was in a few years ago, we'd have some great minor blues jams then the other guitarist ( my friend who was 10x better than me) would play some major blues and even though i could play the chords and thought i knew what i was doing my solos always went to shit! hadn't ever really been able to figure out why. i remember the other guy being like just play the major over the 1 and the minor over the rest but i could never really get it to work. YOU HAVE SAVED THE DAY ONCE AGAIN! long time follower of the channel. you've taught me a lot. Thanks!
Thank you so much Justin. You literally answered the main question I had regarding the major pentatonic in the first minute of your video. After trusting youtube recommendations I was being directed towards someone who is clearly leaving out key bits of info so you buy their program. I can't fault someone for trying but it's nice to know that the someone is actually just trying to teach and realizing that in doing so the money will come. Will be donating to your patreon and not buying other guys guitar program.
Helpful video... interesting thing is the major pentatonic over an A major chord uses notes within the A major scale. A B C# E F#.
The minor pentatonic over an A major chord is an ‘outside’ sound as the notes C and G are not in the A major scale. The chord A7 does have the 7th, G.
A good way to ‘hear’ the major pentatonic is to think of the opening riff to ‘My Girl’
I love the faces you make when you play “the clanker”. The humanity!!! lol. Great lesson as always. Thx!
Thank you sir, I was really struggling to find information about how to improvise switching between major and minor, I couldn't find anything on the web so I tried getting it right by ear but I was lost in the dark depths of my musical ignorance... You saved my day, great teaching, you have a new subscriber from Italy!
I learned this literally 40 years ago. What I would add is once you find the "A" note in the A major pentatonic, when the chord changes to D, find the relevant note in the D major pentatonic which would be the 7th fret third string (up from the bottom string or little E, the "G" string). Now you can play in two Major Pentatonic scales, the A and D. I would like Justin to demonstrate the L minor chord, but he'd probably be arrested.
I watched and benefited from your basic blues lead course. This one was long overdue, and gratefully welcome.
It suddenly makes sense! After years of trying! Very well explained, I really like your videos. Keep going!
Been gettin quite good at minor pent and thought wow why bother with major, it doesnt work. This clears things up alot and very clear way to put it so thanks! My 1st subscription to a guitar lesson on youtube goes to you sir, great video
Ross Stevenson cheers!
Really good lesson ! Out of all of the major minor pentatonic lessons I have seen on-line. This lesson really helped a ton. Thanks Justin. Nice job !
extremely helpful video as always. I have been playing the Minor 12 step blues in the Key of E and A everyday for 10-20mins to perfect my dexterity. this major inclusion will help me to add a next step to my practice.
fantastic wee lesson, thanks so much Justin!!!
You just answered so many questions I had! Everyone writes 12 bar blues off as simple or you should know this already. Its been a hard fought journey to get to my goals and this video helped me not have to just trial and error my walkthrough the 12 bars. Cheers Justin! You are the man
Thank you for the lesson Justin ... :) .. greatly explained ... keep rockin'
Justin, you're a gem mate, I've never understood the relation until now. Thank you so much, for your easy to understand approach, keep up the great work !
Finally a youtuber made me hit his website. Awsome lesson and great points on the basis!
Great job. Subscribed.
Bravo Justin. Possibly the best guitar tuition video on the net right now imo
Top lesson Justin. Not enough is said about this scale,it is fundamental for every aspiring player and even better to be able to weave the minor/ major together.
Perfect, exactly what I need right now. Already this is going to unlock so much for me and there's more to come!
This is some of the best advice I have ever received about playing the blues. Thank you!
Super lesson. I now understand the minor and major pentatonics.
Justin you are absolutely the best teacher I've ever come across. And a killer player of course! This lesson was gold! Thank you so much! Can't wait for you to hit a million subs! You've earned that and way more!
You made your point about that C# so well that I busted out laughing..!!
I’ll never forget this lesson..!! Thanks..!
Glad you enjoyed it! Cheers 😊
| close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator [ www.justinguitar.com/ ] .
THANK YOU Justin! I've been trying to figure this out for a very long time with no success, this was a revelation for me, thanks again!!
thank you for the correction on the key and scale
Justin, just seen this video even though it is a year old. How you opened up doors for me explaining this. Thank you!!👍🏻
I’ve been avoiding the soling with the major pentatonic until now. This video was a life saver.
Thank you for this. Although I pretty much knew these scales, I didn't know that one was a major and main differences to the minor from a listening standpoint. I usually shut down when people start throwing out "major ninths or flat seventh" or whatever. "I just want to play, not take a music theory class" I usually say. Your video did both, taught me things I didn't think I needed to know, and kept it fun.
this opened my eyes, been working on my lead and this has opened a great deal of options, thanks!
I've watched a lot of videos explaining this topic and Sir you were the key! Looking forward to this series 🍻
been looking for this info everywhere thanksman!
You're the best guitar teacher Justin!
Mannnnn.. Justin you getting older but you are still the best guitar teacher on TH-cam keep it on!!
Great concepts and exercises man it's refreshing
The pinky on the root trick was fantastic!
I personally think the that major pentatonic and that C# over the 4 sounds okay, but only on a quick 4 and only maybe once per song. Create some quick tension and release it quickly.
this lesson literally changed the entire way I play. Justin you're a hero
What a great idea for a mini-series of lessons for the aspiring lead guitar player. Looking forward to seeing more in this series. I can only think the negative thumbs down are from beginners who have stumbled upon the wrong page.
This is the video that made it all click in my head. A million thanks!
This is a great lesson. It really helps when playing over changes.
Finally someone has made me realise why I struggle to solo in major pentatonic
he doesn't know what he's talking about? wow, I guess I need to start an instructional video series.
@@ozzyosbourn177 Wtf???
It is used primary in country songs ; or weird rock songs that are not 1,4,5 progressions and you have to really make shit up on the fly
@@WileECoyotey thin lizzy and the eagles -and southern rock are great references
A prime example of it is Blue Sky by Allman brothers .Dickie Betts uses it exclusively for the entire 4 minutes of solo
As always - a superb lesson. Goes to show that sometimes showing something clearly wrong is a great way to drive home a point.
Great lesson, finally I understand a little more from music theory. Thank you Justin, you're a great teacher!
You're really a great teacher, Justin. Thank God I discovered that quite some time ago (I'm Coda at your website), and have learned a lot since :)
Just where I'm at right now! Thanks as ever. (Gotta love Justin's face playing the A major pentatonic over the D7)
I'm only at 1:13 and already your video has been so hugely helpful! Never heard this problem explained so succinctly before. Thanks! :)
Great lesson. Well Done !
Man love your lessons and PLEASE ALWAYS include theory since I and some of us will undertand better. Besta regards and very good holidays Justin