How to Play the Minor Pentatonic Scale for Jazz Guitar Solos

Video Transcript

" Hi! My name is John Armstrong with expertvillage.com. I am a professional guitar instructor and today we are going to be studying beginning jazz guitar. Another type of minor scale that we can use besides the natural minor, this is more soloing purposes, it would be the minor pentatonic scale. We discussed A natural minor scale and played that little blues progression in the key of A minor. Also played a blues progression in the key of A. Here is a really cool scale that you can use to solo over that. It sounds good in a rock setting, jazz setting, a blues setting, whatever the case may be. It is the A minor pentatonic scale. What I am basically going to be doing with the pentatonic scale, the difference between it and the A natural minor or diatonic scale, the pentatonic scale is going to be a 5 note scale. So I am going to be subtracting 2 notes from the diatonic scale. Those 2 notes are going to be my 2nd and my 6th. If you watch me play the A natural minor and watch me play the A minor pentatonic, I go right my root to my flatted 3rd, 4th, 5th, flatted 7 and root again. 5 notes hence the name penta. Now I will stand that up, A, C, D,E and G; A, C, D, E, E, G and A, C so ascending and descending. That is a real nice scale of solo if I were playing that progression especially if I was able to have it with the progression in the background. That's a real nice scale of solo and do little fills and licks with over those types chord progression."