How to play a Pentatonic Major using a Pentatonic Minor 3 octave shape

Question

Ok, so the :

C Major Pentatonic

and the A Minor Pentatonic

are supposed to be the same stuff. But I'm unsure how that happens theoretically. (Apart from the obvious fact that they have the same notes in the fretboard).

Is this happening the same way as how E Lydian == G# Aeolian in the Diatonic scale ? Like, if i only know the 3 octave Aeolian shape, and I want to play E Lydian with it, this is what I have to do :

1. Find my key (E). Let that be the Open 6th string.
2. Move as many frets up/down as is the half-step difference between the mode I want to play (Lydian) and the mode I know how to play (Aeolian) ,which in this case is 4.
3. Thus, if I play the Aeolian shape from 4th fret, 6th String, I'm playing G# Aeolian, and that's the same as E Lydian.

Can someone guide me as to how I can do this with pentatonic scales ? That is, play any Major Pentatonic using the Minor Pentatonic shape ?

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EDIT :
Why does going three steps down from A minor Pentatonic give C Major Pentatonic ?
Why is it not called A Minor Lydian Pentatonic or something ?

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Answer 1

All relative scales work the same no matter the scale. For example in the case of major and minor pentatonic scales in your example the C major pentatonic scales and the A minor pentatonic scales contain the sames notes as you can see here:

C Major pentatonic: C  D  E  G  A
A Minor pentatonic: A  C  D  E  G   

The differences is what the tonic (or root) as different tonic defines the scale. So while the scales contain the same notes and you are technically playing the same scale, they each have a different tonic in mind that defines them.

These relationships exist for all scales and the naming scheme is historic in nature and tied to the seven natural modes of the major scale. We could even name the other scales of the pentatnoinc scale as seen in this quesion and answer. You have already noticed this pattern as you pointed out, but what seems to be troubling you is the relationship between these two so instead let's just look at the scale pattern for each:

Major pentatonic: root  M2  M3  P5  M6
Minor pentatonic: root  m3  P4  P5  m7   

It's these patters that are actually used to build the two pentatonic scales. It may be easier to think of the C major pentatonic and the A minor pentatonic as these two independent patterns for now, but eventually after playing them for a wile you'll understand the slight nuances of them and understand why they are the same notes, but different scales.

Answer 2

Put emphasis on the C note of the Minor Pentatonic patterns from your example. Start by beginning and ending phrases using the C note in the example you have. You can play all the Minor Pentatonic scale patterns this way directed towards the C note. You have to know where you are going, what is the root note you are after.

To define a modes play the scale starting and ending on a specific note. D Dorian would be all the notes from the C Major scale starting and ending on D. An E Phyrgian would be the same thing, E to E using the same notes from C Major for example.

That logic can be applied to the Pentatonic Scale to C to C using the Minor Pentatonic fingering that you have on the example and they will be Major Pentatonic.

Listen to songs, solos and phrases you are interested in. You will pick up a vocabulary from that because players mix these scales all the time. They also add the Blues scale in there too with the Pentatonic Scales. So you can have a solo that has a Major sounding phrase to a Minor phrase with a Blues Scale phrase all in the same solo.

Answer 3

Yes, you have the right idea. The major and minor pents use exactly the same notes, thinking relative. as in C maj is relative to A min. This also works for full major and natural minor. And if you take modes, for example, C Ionian has the same notes as D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian and B Locrian. This lot can be moved to any key, so for instance, E Dorian is the same notes as C# Locrian, or E Aeolian (nat. minor) is the same notes as G Ionian (major). The maj. and min. blues scales also work the same way, with relatives. You wouldn't necessarily use the same pattern for each example, but you could with small changes at the bottom and top to compensate, which is what the diagram shows.