Hi again Matt. As I dig deeper, I seem to have figured out there are (maybe 3) scales that are “relatives” of a
major key being played. They are: the minor scale for that key, the minor pentatonic and the major pentatonic. I may have missed a few. For that I apologize.
My big problem is that I don’t know what scale to play solo to accompany the chords being played in a certain family: I guess I could just try to figure out the notes of the song and play along in the major key…that’s hard to do. Perhaps that’s a question to be best answered on the cruise.
Thanks for asking about my left wrist. I can still “try” to participate…but I fear it’s a tenosynovitis/carpal tunnel issue.
Ted
Hi Ted,
I can show you on the cruise but it’s good to answer here too as it helps others.
There are many, many ways to solo on a song depending on how sophisticated you want it to sound and what genre you’re playing.
As a general rule though I would always start with the major pentatonic and its relative minor pentatonic. These 5 note scales only include notes that sound good against any chord in that key which means you don’t have to think quite so hard about note choices.
So eg. Key of C - solo with C major pentatonic or Am pentatonic.
Key of G - solo with G major pentatonic or Em pentatonic.
Cheers, Matt