While soloing in a Major key do I have to change pentatonic scales at chord changes or can I just use the one scale that matches the key ?
This is very difficult to answer easily because it just depends. If one single scale matches the key then that will be one way of doing things. For something like a typical minor blues solo, we generally use our ear and think minor pentatonic / blues scales. This kind of music is often using runs / riffs / licks and phrasing all based around the scale.
With major scale soloing we can do things the same but it doesn’t always sound right. For instance, take a BB King major blues and use the old trick of moving the minor pentatonic down three frets to make it major – it won’t often sound right. If you want to sound like BB King then you need to learn a bunch of BB King licks. Even though these licks are derived from major or minor pentatonic scales … you will never sound like him if you are focusing on, and thinking about scale patterns.
If the song has a country feel, let’s say a I-IV-V in C major? You could use a mix of cliché country licks and also switch scales over each chord. The chords being C, F and G, you could play C major pentatonic, F major pentatonic and G major pentatonic respectively over each chord change. This would give it more of a country feel.
If it was a slow bluesy rock song then simply moving the minor pentatonic scale down three frets might just sound right. Throw in a few Peter Green licks (think “Need your love so bad”) and you’ll probably be on the right tracks.
A pop song with an upbeat feel might work best using the full major scale (think diatonic, not pentatonic) and pay attention to chord tones and arpeggios, especially on the chord changes.
There are so many ways to think about it, the best thing is to learn and play along with as many songs as you can, as regular as you can and build up your bag of licks and phrases. Also practice playing arpeggios so that you can get the feel for playing with chord tones.
Most of the time when people are looking to spice up their solos, the problem is not in the scale choices, it’s in the note choices. If you spend the next six months paying attention to chord tones, all of these things should start to make sense.
Hope that helps a bit? If not, feel free to ask more. It’s just not an easy thing to answer in one go. The more questions you have, the more it should start to make sense.
