The Steel Guitar Forum

Well David, what you have said in your last 2 posts is too much for me to think about in experimenting with the major and minor pentatonic scales at this point in time. I am just going to concentrate the major pentatonic which is built from these intervals: R - 2 - 3 - 5 – 6 which would be C - D - E - G – A in the key of C. In my research it shows that it works over I-IV-V-I, V-IV-I-V or I-iv-IV-V-I chord changes.
As for the minor pentatonic riffs, I will concentrate on the R - b3 - 4 - 5 - b7 notes which would be C - Eb - F - G – Bb and maybe a b5 thrown in there in the key of C. I have deduced that this scale works well for chord progressions based on minor chords like iv-ii-iii-iv or ii-iii-IV-ii and I-IV-V-I or V-IV-I-V changes. Bending the b3 to 3 then hitting 1 also works.
I will let my ear decide on which notes work best.

somehow i think davids last post might have been intended to be placed in another thread? it seems largely out of context in this one.

If you men the Joe Wright link, I just thought it would be interesting and relevant to this thread to see someone actually playing pentatonic blues on pedal steel. He is making use of pockets in places, although he also does some stuff unique to extended E9 or universal.

It is also interesting that at the very end he lapses into some standard country pedal mashing. There you can hear both the difference and overlap between country and blues.

the joe wright link i understood and enjoyed seeing (tho I hope you wont mind if I admit it wasnt my cuppa tea in terms of tone and expression).

I didnt get the references to the Uni in the context of this thread tho, and saw you had posted this link in another thread where discussion of the Uni WAS taking place so I assumed this was just a misplaced response. my bad.

David.... when you are two frets down from root, playin bluesy stuff, are you primarily using the B and C pedals, the A and B pedals, no pedals, or all equally? thanks for all your help in this thread and previous ones on this topic. most enlightening, even if the theory end of it all does just sorta go in one ear and out the other for me.

David...can you post some charts?

Bumping this old thread so I can read it when I get home.

Finding info on using "boxes", or "pockets" of pentatonic scales for use in blues, rock, improvisational jam music is hard to come by. I love country and Hawai'ian music but I also would like to be able to bring my steel to the club and join in on some blues jams, etc. More opportunities to get the steel in front of non-country audiences is only a good thing for the instrument and... me

thanks for all the info in this thread, b0b, david, ben, don, etc. it's very helpful

great thread!! glad you bumped it up.

All this stuff about boxes and pockets makes me dizzy. The E9 @ C6 tunings are so ripe with major scales it's much simpler to relate everything to that. The scales beginning on the 2, 3, 6 and 7th tones of the scale are all minor scales. Find the root, it's name, it's structure, learn to play and connect it in every key and you are well on your way to becoming an accomplished musician who can find new and exciting ways to improvise and play all types of music All with one scale. As opposed to someone who relies on safe heavens called boxes and pockets to play repetitive licks, or tricks.

Sure it's great to have the chord positions down but a box or a pocket sounds to me like something that will contain or reduce access to the rest of the neck and all it's melodic, chordal and harmonic possibilities.

It may seem daunting but knowing the major scale makes it all much simpler and easier to organize than most players think. The Major scale contains the building blocks for chords, melody, harmony and interesting improvisation.