Improvising

[skoal]

Play the notes that make up the chord you're playing over. To add a a bluesy flavor you can play both the minor and major thirds (in E, G and G#).

[daveguitar127]

would it be okay to play an A7 along with an Amajor????

would it be okay to play with an Asus4???? or any other form of A that isnt minor????

[taparoo]

would it be okay to play an A7 along with an Amajor????

would it be okay to play with an Asus4???? or any other form of A that isnt minor????

You could if you wanted to, but you wouldn't get that same sound of the Am, that minor/sad-sounding quality to the chord. But if you're talking about using a non-minor A chord in the Watchtower progression (Am G F) then, no, it wouldn't "be okay" because (I mentioned this above in one of those long, rambling posts) in the key of Am, the one chord (I) is minor. A7 would be considered major (the 7 is an extension of the A major triad, i.e. a note added onto the chord), and the Asus is rather major-sounding.

[KicknGuitar]

Just going to expand on taparoo's 7th chordness.

adding a seventh(making a triad a "seventh chord") can be applied in the sense of having the basic chords in a scale that taparoo said in an earlier post.

Upercase Roman numerals mean Major Chord
Lower cas Roman numerals mean Minor chord

Intervals of a Scale and their matching basic chords:

I- Major
ii- Minor
iii- Minor
IV- Major
V- Dominant(also played as a Major)
vi- Minor
vii- Diminished
VII- Major same as I


All we do is add a seventh to the chord.

Looking at the chord's intervals we find

Major:
1 3 5 7

Minor:
1 b3 5 b7

Dom(usually labled as x7th):
1 3 5 b7

Diminished:
1 b3 b5 bb7

To respond to daveguitar127's first question. Yes it is ok to play an "A7"(Dom) over an Amajor chord.
In theory that's the rule, in practice, there are no rules.

"would it be okay to play with an Asus4???? or any other form of A that isnt minor????"
Yes. and Yes.
As long as it's a major chord, theory allows you to play it.

A 6th Major is ok, A sus2...

I'm sure I could have descibed that much better. oh well. hahaha. Good luck.
ELB

[MountainDewser]

watchtower is played in the key of Am, which would be the major key of C, is this correct???

Yes, since the C major scale and the A minor scale are the same group of notes, that's 'okay'.

Also, if this is correct...to improvise in the key of C, do i use the C major scale???

Generally yes. But say you're playing blues and you want that minor/blues quality to it you could also play the Cminor scale. It all depends on the progression/chords you're playing over. there are a variety of scales at your disposal (for example, the different modes of the major/minor scales like mixolydian over 7th chords is common, and dorian, etc.)

Say Goodbye is in A, so I would improvise using the A major scale????

Again, yes, but you'd have to look at the chords you're soloing over to get an idea of what other scales you could use.

A great site that I've used for reference is http://www.jazzguitar.be/jazz_guitar_chord_theory.html.

Another very helpful site that shows fretboard diagrams of many different scales is http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/g ... ex_rb.html

wouldn't you want to use the Am blues scale to solo in the key of c? im confused

[Sort Of A Protest Song]

I don't believe so...

From what I know the Am blues doesn't have an F note in it. The notes are

A B C D Eb E G

Whereas to "fit" in C, you need

C D E F G A B

[MountainDewser]

to "fit" means you atleast need to have the arpeggios right? you dont have to have the same notes. thats why there are ameldoic and meldoic minors, and other ways of minors.

[skoal]

wouldn't you want to use the Am blues scale to solo in the key of c? im confused

No, to solo in C you want to play in C major. So if you're soloing over a C chord you want to center your licks around the chord tones C, E, and G, and use the remaining notes of the scale as "connector" notes so to speak. If the next chord is a G you center around its chord tones G, B, and D. It's important to resolve to the right notes because it really adds movement to your solo and keeps it from being just a bunch of random licks. So if you're playing over a C > G chord change, it'd be a good idea to hold the G (the fifth of C) over the change, where it would then become the root of G. Or you could end on an E (the third of C) then move down to D (fifth of G). This is where the whole idea of modes come in. I won't get into it cause there's already a stickied thread. But I don't think a good knowledge of modes is necessary if you understand the chord/tone relationship and know how to transition smoothly between chord changes.

If you're playing blues in C, however, it's a little bit different. That distinctive blues sound comes from the mixing of major and minor intervals. So over 12 bar blues in C you're going to want to play the C minor pentatonic scale. To add a bluesier feel throw in the major 3rd (E) and sometimes the major 7th (B). Hammer ons, pull offs and/or bends from the minor 3rd to the major third are a staple in all blues playing. For example, look at the jam in Jimi Thing (in E) and notice that bend on the low E at the third fret, from the G (minor 3rd of E) to G# (major 3rd of E). It's a very popular move.

[KicknGuitar]

wouldn't you want to use the Am blues scale to solo in the key of c? im confused

I believe you could if you wanted to I answer why after this

From what I know the Am blues doesn't have an F note in it. The notes are

A B C D Eb E G

If I am correct:
The "Blues scale"(NOT Pentatonic) is made up of the intervals: 1 b3 4 b5 5 and b7: WH W H H WH W(Back to Tonic)

so for C Major:
C Eb F Gb G(Abb) Bb

Hence I believe that it does has an F but here's why I think it

Making that in the 6th Mode of CMajor, Natural Minor? Not 100% sure on this but wouldn't we take the Flat 7th(being the Aminor of C Major, and just play the Blues scale with that as the "root" note.

Playing in A minor would give us:
A B C D E F G A

Playing with the flat 7th from the Blues scale we get:
Bb--C--Eb--F--Gb-Abb-Bb
W--WH-W--H--H--WH

I don't know whether the blues scale is allowed to be played over a Minor A, should be, just like how we play Harmonic Minors. Some notes from the scale may just not mix as well as the basic Minor scale.

wouldn't you want to use the Am blues scale to solo in the key of c? im confused

If I am correct, then the "Aminor Blues"(Same notes as a C Blues scale) can be played along with a song in C major


If anyone can me that'd be great.

[skoal]

The fourth can be played more than the sixth in blues. So for blues in A you'll usually leave out the sixth (F), it just rubs against the harmony and takes away from the blues feel. But there's no rule against not playing it. A sixth or a minor 2nd or major seventh can sound really good in the right context. But if you're playing in A minor (not blues in A), the F can be used a lot more.

[skoal]

I don't want to sound confusing saying blues in A, but I don't like to call it A minor or A major because its both really. There's the major third in the I IV and V chords but flat sevenths too, and then the minor thirds are played in the solos. It's not really major or minor, so I just say blues in whatever key.