Playing Major Scale on a Minor Song - Does It Work?
I've heard throughout several forums online that playing a major scale on a minor song doesn't work, yet playing a minor scale on a major song DOES work. Perhaps I misunderstood but that's as much as I could get from what I read.
If this is the case, that a major scale doesn't work on a minor song, why is that if it works the other way around?
(3)3 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
I'm no specialist, so I can't add a proper argumentation, but I know a Youtube channel where the author switches popular songs from major to minor, and from minor to major. In some cases, the results are surprisingly good !
The Youtube channel link : majorVSMinor.
For a minor song converted to a major one, see for example The happy Godfather.
A minor 3rd over a major chord is pleasantly 'blues'. Like the 'Hendrix chord' which is a dominant 7th shape with a minor 10th on top (though you'll get told off if you don't call it a +9 :-)
A major 3rd (10th) on top of a minor chord just sounds wrong.
Often it doesn't work if you play a minor scale over a major song. What they probably mean is the blues. In a standard blues you have dominant seventh chords, and they contain a major third (and a minor seventh). The appropriate chord scale over these chords is the mixolydian scale, which is simply a major scale with a lowered seventh scale degree. However, since it's a blues you can also use the blues scale, which is just a minor pentatonic scale with an added #4 /b5. So in the blues you can usually mix major and minor sounds, and this is what makes the bluesy sound.
As an example, take a C7 chord:
C - E - G - Bb
The corresponding mixolydian scale is
C - D - E - F - G - A - Bb
and the blues scale is
C - Eb - F - F# - G - Bb
As you can see, the blues scale adds the note Eb, which is a minor third up from the root C, even though the chord actually contains the major third. In this sense, you mix minor and major. However, this only works if a bluesy sound is desired and appropriate, it won't work so well over "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" ...
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.