hey everyone, I've got a pretty stupid questoin. I hear everybody talking about Pentatonic Scales... I've never had a decent musiclesson (except for school, but we didn't get it there), I'm a bit of an autodidact (I've had pianolessons, but I was young and only learnt to play songs, not write them myself.) So what's a pentatonic scale and what can you do with it?? (as in, when do you use it, is it something like a blues scale or more like a minor/major scale?)
First, I would guess that this would be in reference to guitar...but I'm not sure so I'll give it first as just basic music theory oriented. If you want clarification or explanation for another instrument just ask. The minor pentatonic is the most common one. Alright, you're basic A natural minor scale is A B C D E F G A. To make the minor pentatonic, you just use the Root, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh. Or A C D E G. You'll hear the minor pentatonic in just about every blues rock song out there. Hendrix, Page, Clapton and Beck relied almost exclusively on the Minor Pentatonic. The other main pentatonic is the Major Pentatonic. You're A major scale is A B C# D E F# G# A. To get your major pentatonic you just play the Root, second, third, fifth, and sixth or A B C# E F#. This is the sound of country and southern fried rock. Think of The Allman Brothers or Jer before the envelope follower tone (Fire, Fire on the Mountain...). The main purpose for all your scales and modes is really improvisation. When you're grooving over you're normal Minor or Major scales, you'll get sour dissonant notes when some notes or chords are played together. All you do is remove these notes...and you've got your pentatonics. Now, if you want to mix up your pentatonics, you can always try an old jazz technique. Start on tonic (key note) and run through your pentatonic notes (with soul of course). Move up a halfstep and play that key's pentatonic. (So, you'd go from A to A#/Bb A#/Bb to B ect) Continue this through the whole octave. Hope I helped out a little. It's a really dry read man.
