5 Tips To Improve your Minor Chords: Pentatonics, Tensions, and Modern Tricks

ByDaniel Weiss

Intro

All right, minor chords, let’s do this.

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Okay, so how’s it going, everyone? Today, we’re going to talk about minor chords, specifically how to improvise over them. I’ll record a few loops and demonstrate some techniques you can use in your improvisations to hopefully spark some cool ideas. As always, please make sure to subscribe, like this video, hit the bell so you don’t miss any of my videos, and let’s begin.

C Minor 6 Vamp

So first, I’m going to create a C minor 6 vamp. Here’s the root, the six, the flat three, and the five. It goes like this: one, two, three, four.

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Now we’ve got our loop. Let’s demonstrate some techniques.

Triads Improv

First thing, you need to know your triads. For C minor, here’s the triad:

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Here’s the first inversion:

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And the second inversion:

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I’ll improvise using these notes, moving beyond the first set of strings:

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I can see my second inversion over here, connecting different sets:

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You can explore more on my website, wiseguitar.com, inside the Galactic Modern Guitar series.

Adding Rhythm

Adding rhythm makes it sound more musical:

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Approach Notes

Now, let’s use approach notes, targeting the third and fourth around the triad, creating cool sounds with chromatics and enclosures:

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Enclosures around chord tones like the flat three:

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Connecting them gives:

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Doing the same to the root:

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Diminished Triads

Let’s introduce a diminished triad. Here’s the root position:

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So, we have the root position of C minor and the root position of B diminished. Let’s play both:

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Triad Pairs Jazzed Up

Combining passing tones and chromatics:

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Melodic Minor

Introducing melodic minor harmony:

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We have minor, minor, augmented, major, major, diminished, and diminished. Connecting these over different sets and inversions:

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The Sweet Sound of 6ths

Creating intervals within scales:

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The ideas are endless. To improvise over chord changes and understand what you’re doing, you need to see all these elements—scales, triads, and always know where you are. You want to play the guitar, not have the guitar play you. Harmony and melody need to be understood on the instrument. It doesn’t matter what style you play—blues, jazz, neo-soul, hip-hop—you need strong fundamentals.

Galactic Modern Guitar Series

The best way to build strong fundamentals is through a specific system that guides you and provides resources. I wish I had this when I was learning, which is why I invite you to check out my Galactic Modern Guitar Series. It covers all the steps in 15 modules with 96 videos, showing triads, voice leading, arpeggios, chromatic approaches, seven chords, and jazz voicings.

The link is in the description below. It’ll help you map out the entire fretboard, solidify your knowledge, and unleash your creativity.

Outro

That’s it for today. If you’re interested in checking out a cool arpeggio workout, check out this video over here:

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Fresh ideas to spice up your minor chord improvisation

Discover minor chord improvisation techniques that you can add to your playing right away.

To start with, the pentatonic scale is a popular choice when playing over a minor chord. It’s a simple but effective tool to create melodies and motifs. You can try to milk some sounds and motives out of it and then move on to the next idea.

Another trick that you can use to add tension to your lines is to play an altered chord over the V chord. For example, if you’re in the key of C minor, the V chord is G, so you can play a G altered chord. This will give you a beautiful tension sound. The altered scale is the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale, which means that G altered is a flat melodic minor. You can learn more about melodic minor inside my Melodic Minor course.

You can also resolve the tension by playing a 5-1 resolution within your line, even though the vamp is just minor. This adds a sense of resolution to your lines.

Another simple trick to add some variation to your playing is to play whatever you want to play up a half step. For example, if you have a pentatonic phrase, you can play it up a half step and then move and phrase around those two pentatonics. You can also move below the root note to create some interesting melodic lines.

In summary, these are some of the techniques that you can use to improve your minor chord improvisation:

  • Use the pentatonic scale to create melodies and motifs
  • Play an altered chord over the V chord to add tension
  • Resolve the tension with a 5-1 resolution
  • Play your phrases up a half step to create variation
  • Move below the root note to create interesting melodic lines

Try to incorporate these ideas into your playing and see how they can enhance your minor chord improvisation. Don’t forget to check out my Melodic Minor course if you want to learn more about this versatile scale and how to use it in your playing. 

Daniel Weiss