No, you’re good! We mods can actually switch the category of a topic if need be, so no biggie.
So I know the temptation—we like to look for rigid rules/guides in music, so we know exactly what to do. However, I’d like for you to start thinking of the pentatonic scale less like a rule of “if I play this it will sound good”, and more of a general guideline: “I can fall back on these pentatonic notes and I’ll be pretty safe, and they are my tool to experiment with”.
I think that what you mean by this is that you’re playing, for instance, the G pentatonic scale over G, C, and D. I want to make the distinction that this IS all you need to get started playing over G, C, and D, but it doesn’t mean that whatever you play using this scale will sound great. You’ll be pretty safe from sounding terrible, but it can still sound “not good”, as you’ve noticed. Let me explain:
The notes of the G major pentatonic scale are G, A, B, D, and E.
Here are the notes of the G, C, and D chords:
G— G, B, D
C— C, E, G
D— D, F#, A
The most consonant (that is, most stable, at home, fitting) notes to play over a chord are always its chord tones. If you play a chord tone over a chord, you won’t sound dissonant (jarring, unpleasant). Of course, this doesn’t mean you should always play chord tones, because that would get pretty boring. They are safe notes to use, however.
Now, what about notes other than chord tones? Well, different notes have different levels of dissonance (unpleasantness) over a chord. For instance, the most dissonant note you can play over a G chord would probably be G#—it’s just one half step away from the root note, which sounds really grating.
This is where the pentatonic scale comes in handy. It does not contain any notes that are terribly dissonant over the 1, 4 or 5 chords. This is what makes it feel “safe”. But, it does contain some notes that don’t sound the best in certain situations over certain chords. For instance, try playing an E note over a D chord. It sounds okay, and 100% works fantastic as a passing note—in fact, I would say it’s important as a passing note. But, it’s not the most desirable note to just hammer away at while the band is on a D chord. Same thing with a D note over a C chord, or an A note over a G chord. If you hang on those, your ear probably wants them to resolve to a chord tone.
So all of the notes in the pentatonic scale are pretty inoffensive over the 1, 4 and 5, but you still need a little bit of deliberate thought to make them sound great.
Really, this is just a smaller picture of playing with all 12 notes. Any note is an OPTION over any chord, but you need some deliberate thought and phrasing to get some of those options to sound good. Using the pentatonic scale is a kind of a way to “fail-safe” the process, giving you safe notes to play with.
It’s kind of like ordering a sandwich. You can custom order whatever toppings the place offers on it, and it won’t kill you, but to make things easier they’ve kindly suggested some universally beloved combinations, such as ham and cheese. The pentatonic scale is kind of like ham and cheese. But some musicians like a peanut butter and pastrami sandwich, and they’ve learned how to cook it to make it work.
Here’s what you can experiment with: play the pentatonic scale over a G, C, and D tune, just like you’ve been doing. Go until you play a note that gives you this experience:
When that happens, stop and look at which note you’re playing and over which chord. Do this as much as you desire and see if you notice any trends.
Really great question!
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