[Harp-L] ? When to use Blues Scale or Major Pentatonic ?

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Jim,

If one knows the blues scale, the minor pentatonic scale and the  
major pentatonic scale, it is possible to improvise and solo over a  
very wide variety of material.  There was actually a time when i  
divided the musical world up into tunes on which i could play the  
minor pentatonic scale/blues scale and tunes on which i could play  
the major pentatonic scale.  Now, this wasn't always musically  
correct in that i was not always playing the "right" notes, but, as a  
practical matter, it certainly kept me from playing very many "bad"  
notes, which, at that time, was my overriding goal.  One can get a  
whole  lot of mileage out of just these three scales.

The oversimplified test i would use to determine if i would use the  
major pentatonic scale is whether the melody (and chords) had a major  
seventh or a dominant (flat) seventh.  If the tune had major 7, I'd  
play major pentatonic.  You really don't need a well developed ear to  
hear the difference.  It's pretty easy to tell the difference if you  
listen to popular music very much.  A "country" sound is major 7.  A  
more bluesy sound is flat 7.

Now, one has to be careful with R&B, because many R&B tunes use major  
pentatonic, even though they don't have a "country" feel.  For  
example, "I'd Rather Go Blind" and "You Really Got a Hold On Me" are  
major pentatonic, and there are quite a few others, but on many other  
R&B tunes, like, for example, "Mustang Sally" one would use the minor  
pentatonic scale. Playing R&B is different from playing blues, so one  
cannot force feed blues scale licks over R&B material and always get  
away with it.

IMHO, pentatonic scales are very cool and extremely useful.

FWIW.

JP