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Master video playlist mapped. Ready for batch offline download to media/videos/improv101-2-6.mp4.
Your second improvisation, now in major. Over the included A7 loop you'll see exactly where each chord tone sits in the major stack — root, fifth, third, the 9th, and the lone outside note — and practice targeting all five scale tones as you move between stacks. Then mix in the A minor pentatonic to hear the bright-major-versus-bluesy-minor contrast you can switch between at will.
What follows is this lesson’s section of the Course Guide — you can read it here or in the full guide →
This improvisation exercise is about using the A major pentatonic stack shape to play over a dominant seventh vamp in A, much like we used the minor pentatonic stack in the previous module.
As with the minor stack, the notes of the A7 chord always fall in the same locations relative to the stack, so you can use them across the entire fretboard. Don’t worry about the interval names here—we’ll cover intervals in the next module.
Note that you can bend the upper note on the upper string up a whole step to play the major third, and you can bend the upper note on the middle string up a half step to play the flat seventh.
The most dissonant note in the pentatonic scale is the major 6th (the upper note on the middle string), so use caution when emphasizing that note.
Memorize this: In this diagram, the red and blue notes are great target notes when playing a major pentatonic scale over a dominant seventh chord.
Exercise 1: Over an A7 backing track, practice making phrases using the A major pentatonic stack and diagonal pathways. Practice emphasizing each note in the stack to see how they feel.
Exercise 2: Practice alternating between the A major pentatonic stack and the A minor pentatonic stack. Notice that the minor pentatonic scale sounds slightly darker and more bluesy than the brighter, happier major pentatonic scale.
A7 Vamp
A · 85 BPM · 1 chords · 22.6s loop
Eight bars of A7, with the A major pentatonic stack on the board. Do the major-to-minor switch in Exercise 2 over this loop rather than in silence: the difference between bright and bluesy is a difference against the chord, and it mostly disappears when there is no chord to hear it against.
Exercise 3: Over the E7 backing track from module one, practice making phrases using the E major pentatonic stack and diagonal pathways.
E7 Vamp
E · 88 BPM · 1 chords · 10.9s loop
The Module 1 loop again, here for Exercise 3. Same backing track, different scale: E major pentatonic over it this time, where you used the minor stack the first time through.
Don’t forget to record yourself occasionally and listen back. This will help you gauge your progress and illuminate which aspects of your playing you should be focusing on in your practice sessions.
Discussion (2)
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Hello, where can I find the backing track? Thanks!
Currently, all of the resources are gathered at the module level on this page: https://fretscience.com/courses/improv101
In this case, open up Module 2, and the loop file and "memorize this" page are right there.
I'll look into also linking them directly on the relevant lesson pages.