Guitar Mastery Simplified: How Anyone Can Quickly Become a Strumming, Chords, and Lead Guitar Ninja by Andreas Erich

Author:Andreas, Erich [Andreas, Erich]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2012-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

The Power of the Pentatonic Scale

A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with 5 notes per octave - in contrast to a heptatonic (seven note) scale, such as the major and minor scales.

The pentatonic scale is easily the most widely used scale throughout world music including rock, pop, blues, jazz and other contemporary and traditional genres of music. It differs from the major scale in that there are 2 notes not present. Musicians evaluate chords and scales according to the major scale (It’s our benchmark for comparing chord and scale embellishments). So, if you took the 4th and 7th note out of the major scale you would have the major pentatonic scale.

Yep, it’s that simple!

But there is something special about the pentatonic scale that makes it sound unique and why it’s so widely used. Think about the ingredients in a recipe. A simple recipe with 3 or 4 ingredients can often times taste better than something with 30 ingredients.

In the case of notes, more is not always better. If we are comparing the major pentatonic scale to the major scale, then the notes represented would be 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6. Remember we said that the 4th and 7th notes of the major scale are not played.

The minor pentatonic has the same shape, but as you will see in the diagram that follows, it would be played in a different place. If you already know the minor scale, then just take out the 2nd and 6th scale degrees (notes) - everything else stays the same. If this part does not make sense to you, hang in there. You can also learn this by memorizing and knowing how to use the forms.

So how would we actually use this scale? Play an A minor pentatonic scale over an A minor chord progression and it will sound pleasant to the ear. For instance, have a friend play the following progression: A-, C, F, G. Then play an A minor pentatonic scale over that and you will find that it is “harmonic,” or pleasant to your ear (no bad notes). The G major pentatonic scale played over a G major chord progression will also sound harmonic to your ear. Have a friend play this progression: G, G, C, D and play a G major pentatonic scale over that and you will find it pleasing to your ear.

Note that you must use the associated minor pentatonic scale over a minor chord progression (i.e. - A minor pentatonic over an A minor chord progression. Conversely, you must use the associated major pentatonic scale over a major chord progression. For instance, if my chord progression is in “A minor,” then I would use the A minor pentatonic scale. If my chord progression was in “A major,” then I would use the A major pentatonic scale over the top of it and it would sound harmonic.

These are good “rules of thumb” to follow; however, music is art and technically there are no rules in art! Anything goes! I say that for two reasons.

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