Hello everybody :D
I have just watched a video on YouTube (I am still getting used to this iPad and have no idea how to copy links I'm afraid).
a
Anyway, the guy played a very exotic sounding solo using what was basically a minor pentatonic scale, but with the major third (he also added the monor third in the scale too, although I didn't see him use it much in his solo).
Anyway, one of the comments called this a dominant pentatonic, a term I haven't heard before, is this correct?
I was wondering what type of chord progression this scale is most commonly used over, and which mode it is derived from? I was thinking that given it is basically a major scale with a minor seventh, that it would be derived from the myxolydian scale?
However, whenever I use myxolydian I tend to use it in combination with the blues scale as I play it over blues chord progressions and never get the type of exotic sound I saw on the video??
Thanks in advance, Al
"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)
I like to teach students to add the major 3, b5 or major 7 to the common minor pentatonic. I don't really teach these as separate scales, although a lot of people think of the second one as "the blues scale". It's a good way to learn how the minor pentatonic relates to the chord tones (3, 5, b7) and they do sound very cool.
I have no idea of those scales but it seems this guy defines it in a different way. He gives some uses, too.
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/dominant-pentatonic-scale/
Hope it helps.
"Dominant" scales have a 3 and b7, the two notes that create tension in a dominant 7th chord. "Pentatonic" is any scale with five notes. That means there are several possible interpretations, especially since it's not a standard scale name.
The link Nuno provided defines a dominant pentatonic as 1-2-3-5-b7; that's a major pentatonic, with the b7 replacing 6 (or if you'd prefer, a minor pentatonic with the b3 raised). Either one will get you all the tones of a dominant chord of the same root, 1-3-5-b7; the 2 in the scale actually makes it a dominant 9th arpeggio.
Other videos and websites consider a 'dominant pentatonic' to be 1-3-4-5-7. This logic is a little more bizarre: if you're in C, the dominant seventh chord is G7; G7 gets tension from the tritone between F and B, so both are included in the scale. As it's common to leave the 5th out of 7th chords and larger extensions, this makes the scale a combination of a C major arpeggio (C-E-G) and a G7 arpeggio without the fifth (G-B-F).
How you use it, and where it can be used, depends on which scale you're talking about.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
...and both of these pentatonics can also be thought of as Major Scale modes you (presumably) already know with two notes dropped out:
1 2 3 5 b7 = Mixolydian without the 4 or 6
1 3 4 5 7 = Major (Ionian) without the 2 or 6
The page Nuno linked to suggests using the first of these in a modal application where it becomes:
1 2 3 #4 6 = Lydian without 5 or 7
but in context (a dominant 7 chord) it's probably best thought of as Lydian Dominant without the 5 or b7.
I'm not sure how useful it is to break your head studying these in detail but it can definitely be fun to play around with them as a way to break out of ruts when you play familiar scales.
As for naming, as NoteBoat suggests people attach all sorts of names to different scales; IMHO it's always safest just to spell the scale out.
