PentatonicScalesMattOlson,FurmanUniversity

Conn-SelmerandD’AddarioEndorsingArtist

Thepentatonicscalehasbeenusedinawidevarietyofnon-WesternandtraditionalWesternartmusic.ComposerslikeDebussy,Ravel,andBartokareresponsibleforgivingitahomeinclassicalmusic.1Pentatonicscalesalsohavebeenextensivelyusedbymusiciansinallgenresofpopularmusic.Mostofusunknowinglylearnedthepentatonicscalewhenweplayedtheblackkeysonthepiano.Thepentatonicscaleisanattractivechoiceforimprovisersandcomposersalikeforseveralimportantreasons:

• Itsasymmetricalfivenoteconstructionallowsustogenerateawidevarietyofshapes.Thescale’scombinationofstepsandskipsallowsforincreasedmelodicangularity.

• Becauseitonlyhasfivenotes,improvisers(andcomposers)cantargetspecificharmoniccolorswiththeirnotechoices.Thesecellsoftenlineupwellwithtraditionalpianovoicings.

• Onmostinstruments,pentatonicscales“lay”well(evenonbrassinstruments)andareeasytolearn.

• Itisasubsetoftheminorbluesscale.• Thepentatonicscaleiseasilymodifiedtomatchupwithalteredchords.

Musicianstendtolearnthepentatonicscaleaseitheramajorpentatonicscaleorminorpentatonicscale.Themajorpentatonicscaleconsistsofscaledegrees1,2,3,5,and6.

Theminorpentatonicscaleconsistsofscaledegrees1,3,4,5,and7.

1Day-O’Connor,Jeremy.“Pentatonic.”GroveMusicOnline.EditedbyDeaneRoot.Accessed15May2021.http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.

These,ofcourse,arethesamescales.Therelationshipbetweenthemisthesameasthatofthemajorandrelativeminorscales.Ittrulydoesnotmatterhowyouthinkofthescale–dowhateverfeelsbestforyou.Tobeefficient,Iwillrefertothepentatonicscalesasmajorpentatonicscalesthroughoutthishandout.ExercisesforlearningthepentatonicscaleIrecommendstartingwiththesethreepermutationsofthepentatonicscaleinall12keystogainfluency(reduceoctavesifnecessary…theshapeismoreimportantthantherange):Playingthescaleupanddown

Groupsof4notes

Skippingnotes–sameconceptasplayingamajorscaleinthirds

HarmonicapplicationsofthepentatonicscaleOncewegainmasteryofthescales,weturnourattentiontoimplementingtheminourplayingandcomposing.Thesimplestapplicationofthemajorpentatonicscaleistoamajor7thordominant7thchord:CMaj7àCmajorpentatonicscaleC7àCmajorpentatonicscale

Thesameistrueofaminor7thchord(usingaminorpentatonicscale):Amin7àAminorpentatonic(orCmajorpentatonic)However,becausewearedealingwithfivenoteshapes,therearemultiplepentatonicscalesthatsoundgoodonmostchords.Tobeginwith,itisusefultoremindourselvesofthe“clockfaceofkeys”(aroundthecircleof4ths/5ths)2:

Theclockfacehelpsustoseerelationshipsbetweencloselyrelated(anddistantlyrelated)keys,whichhelpustoidentifysomeadditionalpentatonicscalestoplayovercertainchords.Jazzmusiciansprefertousetheterms“inside”and“outside”(ratherthan“consonance”and“dissonance”)whenreferringtoplayingoverjazzharmony.Workingfrominsidetoslightlymoreoutsidetheharmony,weareabletoplaythepentatonicscalebasedontheroot,thenthe5th,andthenthe9thofmajor7thandminor7thchordsasfollows:OverCMaj7(majorpentatonicscales):PentatonicScale Notes ScaleDegreesoverCMaj7Cmajorpentatonic C-D-E-G-A 1-2-3-5-6Gmajorpentatonic G-A-B-D-E 5-6-7-2-3Dmajorpentatonic D-E-F#-A-B 2-3-#4-6-7OverAmin7(minorpentatonicscales):PentatonicScale Notes ScaleDegreesoverAmin7Aminorpentatonic A-C-D-E-G 1-3-4-5-7Eminorpentatonic E-G-A-B-D 5-7-1-2-4Bminorpentatonic B-D-E-F#-A 2-4-5-6-1

2Imageretrievedfromhttps://musictheorysite.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/circle-all.png

Spendsometimeplayingoverthesechordsandslowlytryingouteachofthethreemostinsidepentatonicscalestoworktohearthevariouscolorsthatthescalespresenttoyou.PentatonicsasameanstoplayoutsidetheharmonyAsweventurefurtheroutsidetheharmony,wemovetomoredistantlyrelatedkeys,theonesthataredirectlyacrosstheclockface.Forexample,themostdistantlyrelatedkeystoCmajorareF#,B,andDb,andtheyarethefurthestawayontheclockface.Whileitisverymuchanacquiredtaste,tryplayingtheDbpentatonicscaleoveraCmajorchordtohearitsexceptionaldissonance.Mostplayerswhoareespeciallyeffectiveatplayingoutsidetheharmonyusethosemomentstogenerateextremetensionandgreatresolution.Iencouragemystudentstostartbyplayingsomethinginsidetheharmony,thenmovingoutside,andthencomingbackinside,likethisexampleusingtheCandDbmajorpentatonicscalesoverCMaj7:

Continuetoexperimentwiththisconceptasyouimprovise.YoucanalsostudythesolosofmusicianslikethegreattrumpeterWoodyShaw,whohasespeciallyeffectiveatthissortofapproach.FurtherresourcesforstudyingthepentatonicscaleIrecommendtwooutstandingbooksasresourcesonthepentatonicscale.

1. RamonRicker–PentatonicScalesforJazzImprovisation

2. JerryBergonzi–InsideImprovisationVolume2–Pentatonics(Jerryincludessomedemonstrationtrackswithhisbookthataresensational,andheincludesalotofreallyusefulmaterialonalteredpentatonicscales)

Ialsoencourageyoutodreamupasmanyshapesonthepentatonicscalesasyoucan!Thepentatonicscaleisanextraordinarilyflexibleandexpansiveshapethatcanbeusedinvirtuallyeverystyleofmusic.Workhardtoaddthistoyourvocabulary!