Penta is the Greek root word for five. So a pentatonic scale
consists of only 5 different notes. While there are many possibilities
for arranging 5 different notes to create a scale, we are going
to look at the 2 most common. They are major pentatonic, and
minor pentatonic.
In order to fully understand how pentatonic scales are constructed,
you should have an understanding of how to construct basic 7
note major and minor scales. Because pentatonic scales are derived
from them.
|
Prerequisite
lessons:
Constructing
major scales
- this is the starting point for understanding all music
theory.
Natural
minor scales - Minor scale construction, and the relationship
between major and minor. Learn how the theory is applied
to the neck of the guitar.
|
Below is a basic review of major and minor scales,
but you should also read the theory lessons here at Cyberfret.com
that cover these topics in more detail.
Major
scales
A major scale is just a pattern of whole steps
and half steps (W W H W W W H). A C major scale consists of
the natural notes from C to C (no sharps or flats). Each note
in the scale is assigned a number from 1 to 7. These numbers
are very important to your understanding of music theory. As
you are looking at different scales and chords, you will be
using these numbers to help understand how they are constructed.
The major scale is the constant to which you will be comparing
everything else to.
C D
E F G A B C - C major scale
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 - scale functions
Basic
major scale
functions indicated
|--7--|--1--|-----|--2--|
-1st string
|-----|--5--|-----|--6--|
|--2--|-----|--3--|--4--|
|--6--|-----|--7--|--1--|
|--3--|--4--|-----|--5--|
|-----|--1--|-----|--2--| -6th string
|
Minor
scales
If you rearrange the notes of a C major scale
to go from A to A instead of C to C, this is an A minor or A
natural minor scale. It has it's own pattern of whole steps
and half steps (W H W W H W W) So a C major scale and A minor
scale consist of the same notes, just in a different order.
If you apply this pattern of whole steps and half steps to the
notes from C - C, you will have to flat the E, A and B notes.
This is a C minor scale. You can now see the difference between
major and minor by comparing C minor to the C major scale. Since
E was the 3rd note in a C major scale, Eb now is labeled with
the function "b3". So the minor scale has a b3, b6,
and b7 in comparison to the major scale. These numbers are referred
to as the formula for a scale.
The formula for a natural minor scale is 1
2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
C D
Eb F G Ab Bb C - C minor scale
1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 1 - scale functions
Basic
minor scale fingering
functions indicated
|-----|--1--|-----|--2--|-b3--|
-1st string
|-----|--5--|-b6--|-----|-b7--|
|--2--|-b3--|-----|--4--|-----|
|-----|-b7--|-----|--1--|-----|
|-----|--4--|-----|--5--|-b6--|
|-----|--1--|-----|--2--|-b3--|
-6th string
|
Page 2, The major pentatonic
scale 
