Hello and welcome to my electric rock lead guitar course!

In this course, we'll be looking at lead guitar techniques and how to solo using the Minor Pentatonic Scale. This being the case, I feel it is important to take a moment to explain why we focus on the minor pentatonic scale so much.

The Minor Pentatonic scale is one of the most commonly scales used in Rock, Blues, Country and Jazz music. However, it is the major scale is the foundation of all western music. So why is so much Rock and Blues music based around the minor pentatonic scale? 

The minor pentatonic is a 5 note scale;

• Pent = 5
• Tonic = The first scale degree (aka first note from the scale)
• ‘Minor’ refers to the 3rd degree of the scale. It also governs the emotion quality of the note or chord. 

So, the minor pentatonic scale is a 5 note scale that is very different from the major scale.

Minor Pentatonic in Rock and Blues

The minor pentatonic in the key of A has the following notes;A- C - D - E - GWe can turn these notes into power chords to play a rock riff or song. Good examples of this include ‘Highway To Hell’ and ‘Rock n Roll Train’ by AC/DC, ‘Rock n Roll’ by Led Zeppelin and ‘Rocks’ by Primal Scream.

What does this mean?

It is important to understand that for chords and a melody to work at the same time, they must draw from the same pool of notes. This is the concept of keys and diatonic chords. In rock and blues, the chords in these songs tends to draw from the minor pentatonic scale, therefore it is this scale that we use to create lead lines, guitar solos and melodies.

It doesn’t even matter if the chords in a song are power chords or even full major chords. As long as the root notes of the minor pentatonic are in the chords, then the minor pentatonic in that key will work.