Pentatonic and Blues Scales

Pentatonic Scales

©2010 Mermikides Pentatonics are hugely important scales in a wide range of musical styles. There are many 5 note scales in use, but the two most common are the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic and are shown below.

MAJOR PENTATONIC C major pentatonic (C D E G A) (R,2,3,5,6)

& w

Root

Maj 2nd

w

w

w

w

Maj 3rd

Perfect 5th

Maj 6th

The major pentatonic is like a major scale but without the 4th and 7th. Note that the omitted 4th and 7th scale degrees are the ones with semitone relationships against a tonic triad, and the source of the most harmonic motion in the major scale. With the 4th and 7th omitted, the major pentatonic is a very neutral, singable and familiar scale.

The major pentatonic has 5 modes, the most common starts on the last note (the A here) and is called the minor pentatonic So the notes of C major pentatonic (C D E G A) are the same as A minor pentatonic (A C D E G)

MINOR PENTATONIC A major pentatonic (A C D E G) (R,2,3,5,6)

& w Root

Min 3rd

w

w

w

w

Perfect 4th

Perfect 5th

Min 7th

The minor pentatonic is like a natural minor (aeolian) but without the 2nd or 6th (which have semitone relationships against a tonic minor triad) With the 2nd and 6th omitted, the minor pentatonic is an extremely useful, effective and commonly used scale.

Comparing Major and Minor Pentatonic It is useful to compare major and minor pentatonic scales in parallel here is C major pentatonic side by side with C minor pentatonic.

C major pentatonic

& œ R

œ

2

œ

3

C minor pentatonic

œ 5

œ 6

œ bœ R

b3

œ

4

œ bœ

5

b7

2

PENTATONIC SCALES AND THE MODES The major scale has 7 modes, 3 major (ionian, lydian, mixolydian) 3 minor (dorian, phrygian and aeolian) and 1 dimished (locrian). Interestingly the 3 major modes all contain the major pentatonic, and only differ in terms of there 4th and 7th degrees. Similarly, the 3 minor modes all have the minor pentatonic in common, with their 2nd and 6th degrees differing.

C major pentatonic

&

R

2

œ

œ

œ

œ

œ

3

5

6

Add 4th and 7th (Perfect 4th, Major 7th)

(Augmented 4th, Major 7th)

C Ionian

&

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ R 2 3

4

5 6

C Lydian

C Mixolydian

œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ

œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ

R 2 3 #4 5

7

(Perfect 4th, Minor 7th)

6

7

R 2 3

4

5 6

b7

C minor pentatonic

&

œ bœ R

b3

œ

4

œ bœ

5

b7

Add 2nd and 6th

(major 2nd, major 6th) C Dorian

& œ œ bœ œ œ œ bœ R 2 b3 4

5 6

b7

(minor 2nd, minor 6th)

(major 2nd, minor 6th)

C Phrygian

C Aeolian

bœ bœ œ bœ bœ œ œ

bœ bœ œ œ bœ œ œ

R b2 3 4

5 b6 b7

R 2 3

4

5 b6 b7

3

Using Pentatonic Scales on Chords

One approach in using pentatonic scales over a chord sequence, is to use the pentatonic scale of the key over all the progression. For example if the sequence is in G major, then G major pentatonic may be used throughout. G major pentatonic

#

G

& V V V V Chords from G major

D

V V V V

E‹

V V V V

C(„ˆˆ9)

V V V V

And minor pentatonic may be used over a chord progression from a minor key.

B minor pentatonic

# &#V V V V B‹(„ˆˆ9)

Chords from B minor

A

V V V V

G

D/F© E‹

V V V V

B‹

V V V V

It is also common for minor pentatonic to be used over a major key (or ambiguous) chord sequence: E minor pentatonic

&b V V V V E

V V V V

G

A

V V V V C

D

A

V V V V E

Chords from E major (and E minor) Alternatively, a pentatonic scale may be used for each chord, major pentatonic for major chords (including maj7 and dom7 chords) and minor pentatonic for minor or minor7 chords*. F maj. pent F maj. pent F7

&b V V V V

Ab maj.pent Bb maj.pent A¨

B¨

V V V V

D min. pent A min. pent

F

A‹

V V V V

D‹

Bb maj.pent B¨

V V V V

* The minor pentatonic is sometimes used over dominant chords I7 or V7 chord - e.g. in a G blues Gminor pent on G7 and D minor pentatonic on D7. It is hardly ever found on the IV7 chord.

4

Major and Minor Blues Hexatonic scale The major and minor pentatonic scales may be embellished with an added note (making 6-note - or hexatonic -scales) These added notes gives the 'blues' scale an idiomatic bluesy quality.

Major Blues The Major Blues 6-note scale is created by adding a sharpened 2nd (minor 3rd) interval between the 2rd and 3rd degree. This gives the scale an idiomatic minor 3rd as well as major 3rd.

&

C Major Blues

œ

R

œ

2

#œ

#2/b3

œ

3

œ 5

œ 6

Minor Blues On page 1 we created a minor pentatonic scale by starting a major pentatonic from the last scale degree. We can do the same thing to the mMajor Blues, to create the minor blues scale. This is a minor pentatonic scale with an idiomatic raised 4th (flattened 5th).

A Minor Blues

œ

œ

#œ

œ

œ

R

b3

4

#4/b5

5

b7

& œ

The blues scales are embellished versions of their pentatonic counterpoints creating an idiomatic bluesy quality. They might be used wherever the pentatonic scale is - as described on page 3. So for example a progression in B minor can be melodicized with B minor blues, a G major progression with G major blues and a Dminor7 chord with D minor blues.