Here's a great video on when (and how) to use the major or minor pentatonic

[DougMen]

He does a good job with showing when and why each of them work, in a simple and easy to understand format. He also does a good job explaining relative major and minor keys, and how by moving the minor pentatonic pattern down three frets it become the major pentatonic in the same key, ie. moving the Em pattern at the 12th fret down three frets becomes E major, the Dm at the 10th fret down three frets becomes D major, the Am at the 5th down three frets becomes A major. He also explains how in a blues in a major key, you can use both the major and minor pentatonic in that key and it sounds good. He also has a nice chart showing the 3 major and 3 minor chords in some common major keys, and their relative minor, which uses the same six chords. When I was learning I had to figure all this out on my own, because I didn't have videos like this explaining it all so simply to me.

 

[Tele-kitty]

Youtube is such a gold mine, sure wish it was around when I started learning.

Just to add a bit of info.... in addition to the moving 3 frets down or up for major/minor.

You can also stay in position for major/minor.
Take an “A minor” pentatonic for example. 5th fret, 6th string.
1 finger per fret rule, Index finger is A minor, 4th finger will be C major.
Reverse is true as well, can use this trick all over the neck.
It seems like a simple thing but it was a lightbulb moment when I figured that one out.

 

[Shine]

Thanks for sharing.

I found this one helpful too:

 

[DougMen]

Youtube is such a gold mine, sure wish it was around when I started learning.

Just to add a bit of info.... in addition to the moving 3 frets down or up for major/minor.

You can also stay in position for major/minor.
Take an “A minor” pentatonic for example. 5th fret, 6th string.
1 finger per fret rule, Index finger is A minor, 4th finger will be C major.
Reverse is true as well, can use this trick all over the neck.
It seems like a simple thing but it was a lightbulb moment when I figured that one out.

Yep, he explains that too, how the Am pattern is also C major, the Gm is also Bb major, the Bm is also D major, the Dm is also F major, the Em is also G major, etc.