Pentatonic Perspectives
The pentatonic scale is an ancient scale that occurred independently in many cultures. It is such an extremely prevalent scale that it is worth a little deeper look into it. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, the pentatonic scale has something to offer. (continued)
First, a few definitions are in order. There are major and minor pentatonic scales, but the C major (C, D, E, G, A) has the same notes as A minor (A, C, D, E, G), so there are just 12 to learn. The major one contains the root, 9, 3, 5, b7 while the minor one has the root, m3, 11, 5, b7. [Note that there are other scales called pentatonic just because they have 5 notes, but to me these are not true pentatonic scales.]
And now for some hopefully interesting perspectives! The pentatonic scale can be built by taking any 5 adjacent notes from the circle of fifths and arranging them into a scale sequence. If we start with E and take 5 notes from the circle of fifths, we get E, A, D, G, C. These notes can be re-arranged into the C major or A minor pentatonic scale. Thus the scale is based on the interval of the 5th which in turn comes from the overtone series.
In contrast, the major scale is built by taking any 7 adjacent notes from the circle of fifths. But by taking only 5 notes from the circle of fifths, you end up with no half steps or tritones in your scale. This makes for a scale with virtually no tension, “avoid notes”, or leading tones. It is a mellow, resolved and open sounding scale.
A typical application of the pentatonic scale is to play the A minor pentatonic scale over an Am7 chord. This is useful for establishing the tonal center from which to build, but quickly gets boring if that’s all we play. When using the pentatonic scale in this way, keep in mind the simplicity of it, then build into some more interesting harmonies (e.g. by adding B and F# to get the dorian mode, or a passing tone like G#).
Another application is playing over a major II-V-I where the major pentatonic based on the V fits nicely over the whole progression. For a more colorful example, try playing F# major pentatonic over C7alt - This tritone substitution trick picks up on ALL the color tones! Who says pentatonics have to be boring?
Lastly, it is worth noting that the blues scale is just a pentatonic scale with a passing tone added. Just add an Eb to C major or A minor pentatonic scale to get the respective blues scales.
Posted by brad under Music Theory |
