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OK, light bulb time! I did not know that the index-or-pinky-on-root-note didn’t mean to start the scale there; scales always go up (or down from the high note) in a smooth fashion. So, if I’m doing a scale in C major pentatonic, I place the pinky on a C on the low E string, but start the scale with my index finger three frets toward the headstock…? and in a C minor pentatonic, I place the index finger on that same C note and continue up the same pattern…?
Wait, no light bulb. I just tried it and it’s still wrong; it turned into an A minor scale. I don’t know what the major scale turned into! Maybe the word ‘pentatonic’ is confusing me into thinking it’s something different than plain old major and minor scales? I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, but this is messing me up!
I did understand your next explanation of matching the tonalities of the backing track with the scale, that’s just common sense.