It's funny how none of the thirds are even in the minor pentatonic blues box.
Nice video and nice playing in the video as well!
I've never approached this in the way that you did here in that I think it's a great way to introduce chord tone soloing. (which I think is hugely important!) It's easy to tell a guy that "this scale works over x progression" (ie. minor pent over blues) and people just get stuck there.
Thirds and sevenths are huge! Sure, you can sound ok just widdling away at the minor pentatonic, but throw in the third and/or seventh of the chord that you are on and, well, you sound like you know what you're doing! Lead to one of those notes and arrive as the next chord hits? Now we're getting somewhere!
For me, I think almost exclusively about what chord I'm on rather than scale, but this is a great way to get out of just playing that pent box. (as the topic suggests).
May I just suggest that if you are going to do this, make sure you know where these thirds happen in all five positions of the pentatonic scale! A good way to do this is to play each position up and down over each chord and add the major third. So, play the A minor pentatonic scale in first position (5th fret) over the A7 chord. Make sure to ADD the M3 when ever you can. Go up and down that position. Now, in the same position, go up and down but hit the M3 of the IV chord (IV chord is D7, so the M3 is F#). Make sure you hit the F# that time. Now do the same position over E7 (V7 chord in A) and make sure to add G#. Each time you go up and down the scale, regardless of which position you are in, you should hear the chord you're on as long as you hit that note (the third of the chord you are on).
Do it in all 5 positions, and then in all keys.
Hey Flav, re adding major third in chord scale terms for blues style playing, particularly on 6/8 shuffles or swing generally, you'll hear lots of pick-ups across the bar lines where the tonality of the approaching chord is "all in" before you get to the downbeat.
Also, the blu notes, for the most part, qualify as lingering melody tones.
At least on I7 and V7, right?
So, you can make sure to add the minor third to the I chord, the b5 of the key to the IV chord and the minor third (b7 of the key) to the V chord too.
I understand this is a level of elaboration beyond what's necessary to get started, but it's a feature of the territory if you listen and think about it.
If you stick to straight up chord/scale thinking inside the bar lines, enough stuff gets missed that you'll miss a whole bunch of idiomatic lick and melody stuff.
Ok, bye!
Right. I think for seasoned players all of the above applies and should be utilized early and often in soloing over blues. I think I was more referring to getting this stuff into your fingers and ears in the first place. A lot of it has to do with getting to know where these notes are on your guitar. It's surprising to me how many people blindly run through these scales rather than having a firm grasp of what's happening.
In blues, both thirds (in ET) apply (and a few of the notes surrounding them as well). This is why I've always kind of had an issue with "The Blues Scale." It doesn't come close to covering the notes needed to really nail down the blues! This is also a big reason why I like slide guitar!
But, yes, you are totally spot on as usual here. Again, I was talking in simple terms for those who don't yet know how to use this stuff.
Thanks for the thoughts though! Say "Hey" to Bobby for us!
Definitely great idea to understand and handle those triad type sound over blues chord change.
Even before you cook music with these. I highly not recommend to memorize them. Try to hear them before you play them!
If you try to memorize them, you could play them knowing where they are. That's too technical so... take your time to hear them first, if you cannot hear them... take your time... then think about degrees...colors... work on it.
Tomo