Country scales

Hi and welcome.

You could try these.

https://www.fundamental-changes.com/hybrid-country-scale/





For irony, I'm only doing some of the work for you - I found them with the google search "scales to endlessly solo with for country music."

Pax/
Dean

 

Major and minor scale, and major and minor pentatonic will cover a lot of ground.

 

b---------------------------------------4-5-
g-------------------------------4-5-6-------
d------------------1-2-4-5-6----------------
a-----------2-3-4----------------------------
e-0-2-3-4-----------------------------------

This is what i basically use on a E chord.

 

Classic or Modern Country?

 

To get started, try playing the major pentatonic scale in the key of the chord. You will have to follow the changes and move the the scale with each chord (i.e. you cannot use the same scale pattern over the whole song like you do with the minor pent in the blues).

 

That's not true! It depends on the progression. A progression of the I, IV, and V chords will sound just fine with the major pentatonic over all three chords, as will many other progressions.

 

Country players use the Major scale, Major Pentatonic, and a typical Blues scale, which is an altered minor Pentatonic, or altered Mixolydian scale, depending on your point of view.

The thing that will get you sounding good on Country leads fastest would be to pick some Country recordings you like and learn the solos and fills note for note. Transcribe them if you can.

 

You can use this circle of fifths to find the relative major pentatonic to the minor pentatonic patterns that you already know. The note above the minor in the circle is the relative major. So, the Am and C major pentatonic are the same five notes, as are Em and G major, Bm and D major, etc. So the patterns you already know will work for the major pentatonic too. To stay in the same key you have to just move the pattern down three frets. So, to go from A minor to A major, just move from the 5th fret to the 2nd fret, where that pattern is F# minor and also A major. It just sounds like A major (instead of F# minor) depending on which notes you emphasize, and what chords you play it over.

 

Good advice here, and I play a lot of both ( blues and Country)

But there are similarities between the two as both do use or share ( mainly, but not exclusively) the 1-lV-V chord structure,
and I seem to play the same little partial chords/double stop fills in Country that you hear Steve Cropper and others play in old R&B.

One thing, and this is more for bluegrass playing than Country ( but it's there too) is a lot of guitar players will play rhythm and lead using the 1st position chords in the key of G major( G, C, D) and learn what's called the 'G run' which are fast runs off the G major scale.
And they will play this pattern in the same ' G position' , but using a capo to change the keys, but play the same.

* not that you can't play the changes in the actual key the song is in, no capo, but its just common to play songs in A, Bb, B, C- in ' G position ' using a capo...

- this is also done often, playing 1st position key of C major chords ( C, F, G) once again, using a capo, and maintain the same 1st position

Hope this makes sense!

 

People will probably disagree with me on this. Blues relies on the 4. Country on the minor 2 and the minor 3. An the 3 being relative minor of the 5. 2 relative minor of the 4. That's what makes it sound country and also makes the major sound. It's a moveable package those group of chord grips.

 

Listen to a lot of Vince Gill and Brent Mason to get started. Dickie Betts played a lot of country licks, in later ABB tunes ( Blue Skies, Ramblin Man)

 

Jason can tell you, if you don't mind a small fee.

https://www.truefire.com/country-guitar-lessons/connections/c1443

 

If I understand correctly, the major pent of the I chord is scale degrees 1 2 3 5 6
Over the IV chord it is 5 6 7 2 3
Over the V chord it is 4 5 6 1 2

To me, the 4 over the V chord doesn't sound very "country". Maybe it's my ear, or perhaps it needs a little more embellishment (e.g. bends, using as passing notes, etc.) to make it work. I would be interested in learning how to use this or some examples in songs.

 

Learn the Flatt run, which is everywhere. Then some bluegrass phrases, like this:



That'll put the sounds in your ear. Tele guitar puts in bends.

Don't worry about "scale theory." Learn phrases (vocabulary) and put in the colors you like.

 

You're asking about scales, then saying you don't want to learn theory. Sad.

 

Country solos are often constructed off the chords in the song with notes in the chord used as landing notes and notes of the scale between them used as passing notes. When you’re comfortable with that, learn sus, add 9, and add 13 chords and where to use them in songs. Enter the name of the song followed by chords and lyrics and open a few of the web sites. They’ll show you the chords. You’ll be surprised how often you see them in country music. Learn to move the chords up and down the neck. Those “extra note” chords will give you landing notes you can use to make your solos more interesting. When you’ve gotten that down, look at the melody and add notes from the melody not in the chord to it. If the note can be found on an open string it can drone and add texture to your chords and solos. Got this? Add partial chords to your solos, either picked or played as stops.

When you think about what I wrote above you’ll see it as a process. You can’t do it all tomorrow but you can work through it over time and add your own nuance as you go.

One more thing. I’m not a proponent of pentatonic scales. They give you landing notes but using only those notes without passing notes from the major and minor scales they’re derived from makes your solos sound like the same solo over and over again. Try to play pentatonic solos over songs with progressions more complex than I, IV, V and you’ll see what I mean.

Good luck to you. Don’t get discouraged. One day you won’t be thinking about how to play a country solo. You’ll be playing one. Most of all, have fun.

 

A simple thing for you to try is to move the minor pentatonic “box” that you would use for a blues or blues/rock song three frets closer to the nut (3 semitones down). You’ll hear the difference in feel.

It’s just a starting point, and this is certainly not a complete explanation, such as a few posters above have provided. But it might get you there for the short term. And your English is much, much better than my Slovenian. I spent a little time in Bratislava in the early 2000’s.