Five-note scales
The pentatonic scale, where every note fits with every other.
Lesson 5 of 7
Leave out two notes of the major scale, the 4th and the 7th, and you have the pentatonic scale: five notes per octave.
Five notes
Switch to minor pentatonic and hear the same shape turn bluesy.
| 1C5 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6A4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5G4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3E4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2D4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1C4 |
The two notes it leaves out are the ones that form the tightest, half-step clashes. Without them, any notes played together or in any order sound fine, which is why the pentatonic scale is so good for improvising.
宫商角徵羽
Pentatonic scales run through music all over the world. In Chinese music the five notes have their own names: 宫 (gong), 商 (shang), 角 (jue), 徵 (zhi) and 羽 (yu), which are 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the major scale.
Minor pentatonic
Start the same five notes from 羽 (6) and you get the minor pentatonic scale, the backbone of blues and rock guitar solos. In the grid below, click anywhere: it is very hard to write something that sounds wrong.
Click anywhere
Random notes, over a beat, in a pentatonic scale.
| 1C5 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6A4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 5G4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 3E4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2D4 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1C4 |