I’ve never thought of each chord change as a change in mode. I’ve been trying to make sense of how chord progressions and melodies go together, and have been told to just play what sounds nice together. Your thought process makes much more sense!
I have a question or maybe more of a misconception. I’ll try to explain with an example. Consider an I-V chord progression of A major- E major. I previously thought you would jam over this with an A major pentatonic then shift completely to an E major pentatonic. Scotty is saying no, instead you go from A major pentatonic to “E pentatonic mixolydian”. Is the way that I used to think about it ever used, or have I been wrong my whole life? Are both approaches common? Should I just keep following along and watching to answer my question?
Hi Corey, Actually either approach would work. I would encourage you to think beyond pentatonics altogether and embrace diatonic scales. So you would use ionian over the l chord and mixolydian over the V chord. Both these scales include both pentatonic modes and you also get 2 more notes to play with.
@@absolutelyunderstandguitar60 thanks for the response! This makes sense that both “my version” and the method explained here are subsets of the diatonic modes. I went ahead and actually did some calculations to test out this idea. Here’s what I found, in case it will help any others. This is using a I-IV-V-vi chord progression in the key of A major: Diatonic Ionian: ABC#DEF#G# Lydian: DEF#G#ABC# Mixolydian: EF#G#ABC#D Aeolian: F#G#ABC#DE Major Pentatonic (my version) Pentatonic A: ABC#_EF#_ Pentatonic D: DEF#_AB_ Pentatonic E: EF#_G#_BC# Minor Pent F#: F#_ABC#_E (Minor Pent here to fit with F# minor chord for vi) Major Pentatonic (Scottie’s way) Pentatonic Ionian: ABC#_EF#_ Pentatonic Lydian: _EF#_ABC# Pentatonic Mixolydian: EF#_ABC#_ Pentatonic Aeolian: F#_ABC#_E So both ways have all notes as subsets of the corresponding major diatonic modes. Still a little confused at why pentatonic can be thought of as both different ways, but Scottie’s mode approach makes much more sense. Additionally, after a few hours of practice, I am in agreement that pentatonic really is restricting the full sound you get from just carefully using the Major diatonic modes instead. TLDR: major diatonic for the win over pentatonic
I’ve never thought of each chord change as a change in mode. I’ve been trying to make sense of how chord progressions and melodies go together, and have been told to just play what sounds nice together. Your thought process makes much more sense!
Did no one else make it this far?
hi
@@scottjackson4558 Hello 👋
i'm slowing down because this is definitely getting out of my scope. but i still want to finish, i just need to hammer down the scales & modes
Yes, I'm so happy I am here, I picked this up to learn to jam and this is all about that.
@@scottjackson4558 same has entered a whole new scope of understanding and I’m like whaaat 😅
I have a question or maybe more of a misconception. I’ll try to explain with an example.
Consider an I-V chord progression of A major- E major. I previously thought you would jam over this with an A major pentatonic then shift completely to an E major pentatonic. Scotty is saying no, instead you go from A major pentatonic to “E pentatonic mixolydian”.
Is the way that I used to think about it ever used, or have I been wrong my whole life? Are both approaches common? Should I just keep following along and watching to answer my question?
Hi Corey, Actually either approach would work. I would encourage you to think beyond pentatonics altogether and embrace diatonic scales. So you would use ionian over the l chord and mixolydian over the V chord. Both these scales include both pentatonic modes and you also get 2 more notes to play with.
@@absolutelyunderstandguitar60 thanks for the response!
This makes sense that both “my version” and the method explained here are subsets of the diatonic modes. I went ahead and actually did some calculations to test out this idea. Here’s what I found, in case it will help any others. This is using a I-IV-V-vi chord progression in the key of A major:
Diatonic
Ionian: ABC#DEF#G#
Lydian: DEF#G#ABC#
Mixolydian: EF#G#ABC#D
Aeolian: F#G#ABC#DE
Major Pentatonic (my version)
Pentatonic A: ABC#_EF#_
Pentatonic D: DEF#_AB_
Pentatonic E: EF#_G#_BC#
Minor Pent F#: F#_ABC#_E
(Minor Pent here to fit with F# minor chord for vi)
Major Pentatonic (Scottie’s way)
Pentatonic Ionian: ABC#_EF#_
Pentatonic Lydian: _EF#_ABC#
Pentatonic Mixolydian: EF#_ABC#_
Pentatonic Aeolian: F#_ABC#_E
So both ways have all notes as subsets of the corresponding major diatonic modes.
Still a little confused at why pentatonic can be thought of as both different ways, but Scottie’s mode approach makes much more sense. Additionally, after a few hours of practice, I am in agreement that pentatonic really is restricting the full sound you get from just carefully using the Major diatonic modes instead.
TLDR: major diatonic for the win over pentatonic