If you don’t understand the first minute of the video, do not worry. The basic principle is that C7 comes from the Key of F Major.

The chords in the key of f major are

1 = F Maj7, 2= G minor7, 3= A minor7, 4=BbMaj7, 5 = C7, 6 = D minor 7 , 7 = E min7b5

A very common progression is the 2-5-1 . Which in F is G minor 7, C7, and Fmaj7.

What we are looking at are the sounds we would get if we were to play this C dominant pentatonic scale over the G minor 7 as well .

That we get is a scale that works well over lots all minor 7 chords.

This is the 4th mode of the Dominant pentatonic scale, this means if you play up the dominant scale to the 4th note then you are at the starting note of this scale. This means all our shapes from before can be used again, we just have to know that the root has changed!

It’s essentially a minor pentatonic scale with the b7 swapped out for a maj6 –

Minor Pent – 1 b3 4 5 b7

Dorian Pent – 1 b3 4 5 6

It’s named the Dorian Pentatonic as it can be seen as a dorian scale with the 2nd and 7 degrees removed.

It’s a great way of adding colour to situations where you normally would just play minor pentatonic or dorian scales, as well as adding in some more interesting intervals to play with.

For Example – In the minor pentatonic scale we don’t have the existence of a tritone between any of the notes, in the dorian pentatonic it exists between the 3rd and the 6th degree.

Another great use of this scale is the fact that it contains more chord tones of the IV chord than the standard minor pentatonic , meaning it works better over the 4 chord than the minor pentatonic does.

Let me try and explain this

If we are in the key of E, our I chord is E7 and our IV Chord is A7.

A7 is A, C#, E and G.

E minor Pentatonic has a D in it, which would clash with the C# in the A7 chord, so we would need to be careful.

Using E dorian Pentatonic allows us not to worry about this as the D is replaced with a C# in the scale anyway, and the C# will actually sound really good over the A chord.

E minor pentatonic – E G A B D

E Dorian Pentatonic – E G A B C#

NOTE : In the diagrams I have coloured the 6th degree in orange to highlight the only note that is a deviation from the standard minor pentatonic scale.