Minor Key Progressions
In lesson 10 you were introduced to improvising against a progression (song) in a major key using pattern one (as a major pentatonic scale). Many songs, however, are written in a minor key, an example of which is given here.
This progression is in the key of A minor, starting and ending on an Am chord.
For improvising against a minor key, pattern one is located on the same fret as the root 6 minor bar chord which has the same name as the key. E.g., for the key of A minor, the root 6 Am bar chord is located at the 5th fret, and so pattern one is played in this position.
The scale you are playing when improvising against minor key progressions is referred to as a minor pentatonic scale.
You will notice that pattern one for the key of A minor is located in the same position as pattern one for a Blues progression in the key of A major.*
Record the minor progression at the beginning of the lesson, and improvise using pattern one and its extension. Remember to make use of all the Rock licks and techniques studied so far.
This minor pentatonic pattern can be used to improvise against any minor key progression in the key of A minor.
*This is because the Blues Rock sound is based on the use of minor scale notes against a major key progression.
Pick Tremolo
The pick tremolo involves rapid pick movement on a given note, hitting the string as many times as possible within a certain period. This period will be preset in written music and a tremoloed note is notated as such:
The diagonal lines indicate a tremolo, and in this example as many C notes as possible are played in one count. Hold the pick close to the tip as illustrated in the photo and keep it rigid, rapidly moving your hand from the wrist. Do not move your forearm. Play through pattern one, tremoloing each note. When improvising, the duration of a tremoloed note is up to your own discretion.
The following example uses pick tremolo on two notes played together and is played over a chord progression in the key of A minor.
