Up Major, Down Minor, Land Major: The Pentatonic Superhighway Move

If you struggle to make your blues solos sound good, and you feel like you lack confidence when you go to take one, today's lesson is for you.

Chances are you've been taught that there are major keys and there are minor keys. But there's a third key you've probably never been taught, and not knowing it is holding you back. The secret sauce of blues soloing is mixing major and minor, and almost nobody talks about how to actually do it systematically. That's what this lesson is.

The whole move in one sentence

We're in the key of E. You go up the major pentatonic, you come down the minor pentatonic, and you land on the major chord.

Up major. Down minor. Land major. That's the move.

The pentatonic superhighway

The vehicle for this move is what I call the pentatonic superhighway. I call it that because it takes you from one part of the neck to the other. Instead of being stuck in one box, you get on the highway, fly up the neck, and fly back down.

The pattern is simple: go up three notes on one string, then two on the next, and repeat. Three, two, three, two, all the way up. A buddy of mine calls it three two pentatonics. Whatever name helps you, it's the same road.

And here's your landmark system. First finger on the root means you're on the major highway. Ring finger on the root means you're on the minor highway. That one landmark tells you instantly which sound you're in, anywhere on the neck.

Put it over the blues

So over an E shuffle: go up the E major superhighway, come down the E minor superhighway, add a blues note if you like, and land on the E chord. You don't have to ride it all the way up either. Go up an octave, go halfway, whatever the moment calls for.

Then follow the changes. When the four chord comes, shift your thinking to A and run the exact same pattern from the A landmarks. When the five comes, same thing from B. Same shapes, new home base. It's copy and paste.

I know a lot of blues cats stay in that E minor pentatonic land the whole time, and plenty of people have made plenty of money doing exactly that. But if you want to expand your harmonic palette and finally hear yourself following the changes, this is the fastest and simplest way to do it.

For the deeper theory on why this blend works, read the secret third key. For the same move broken down slowly in the key of A, read how to actually mix major and minor pentatonics.

Watch the original video: You'll Never Struggle With Blues Solos Again After This Simple Trick

Want to go deeper?

Grab the free Blues Bootcamp. It walks through these concepts with tabs, downloadable PDFs, backing tracks, and a jam with me section.

And if you're ready to get out of the rut for good, check out The Blues Guitar System, my full course.