Basic Scales 1
The Major Pentatonic
The Major Pentatonic is a five note scale which is very common in folk music from many different parts of the world. You may also recognise it as the intro to the song ‘My Girl’. It is a bright and open sounding scale, with no ‘clashing’ or dissonant notes. As a result, this scale can be used quite freely to play over Major chord progressions without having to avoid particular notes.
The formula for this scale is:
R – 2 – 3 – 5 – 6
In the key of C
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In the key of G
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.My Girl
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The minor Pentatonic
The minor Pentatonic is a five note scale which is very common in folk, blues and rock music. It is a minor scale, but doesn’t sound overly dark. Again, with this scale, the ‘avoid’ notes have been removed from the standard minor scale to give us this 5 note set. Many blues and rock players use the minor pentatonic scale extensively in their riff writing and soloing.
The formula for this scale is:
R – b3 – 4 – 5 – b7
In the key of C
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In the key of G
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Check out the intro riffs from Deep Purple’s ‘Black Knight’ for a great example of the minor pentatonic in action.
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Free’s ‘Wishing Well’ also uses the minor pentatonic in it’s main riff.
.Wising Well
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