Major Pentatonic scales?

Hiya,

The G Major pentatonic is G, A, B, D, E in any position, and any pattern. What is important to know is how it's structured so that you can work it into other keys.

So, G to A is a whole tone, A to B is a whole tone, B to D is a minor third, and D to E is a whole tone.

Applying this logic to, say, Bb, you get

Bb plus a tone is C, plus a tone is D, plus a minor third is F, plus a tone is G - so the Bb Major pentatonic is Bb, C, D, F, G

Let us know if it's still foggy.

Best,

A :-)

Sorry, but not to great with theory.

What do you mean by B to D is a minor third and what heppens with the F# in the G major scale.

Me either Evo, but without asking we won't learn so here goes.

You asked for a Pentatonic. Penta means 5. I assume that is why there are only 5 notes being indicated leaving out your F#.

The other issue, again me assuming, is...

In G the reference between B and D is B...C, C#, D...1,2,3 hence the minor third.

So in Bb, D to F is D...D#, E, F...1,2,3 again the minor third.

Hope I'm close. :D

The other thing I want to know is ...

Tonic. Please explain that word. And no references to alchohol, please. :o

If you know how to form a major scale, it's easy to make the pentatonic. Take the scale of G that you mentioned, it's made up of 7 notes - G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, then back to G. Each of these notes is designated a position in the scale (called the degree of scale). G is 1, A is 2, B is 3, etc.. This means that, no matter what the key, I can still refer to the correct position in the scale. In G, the 3rd degree is B and in C, the 3rd degree is E (C, D, E..).
To make a major pentatonic, I just drop the 4th and the 7th degrees - so in G, I drop C (4th) and F# (7th).

If you want to make a minor pentatonic (from the relative minor), you drop the 2nd and 6th degrees. The relative minor of G is E (i.e. the 6th degree of G) - E, F#, G, A, B, C, D. So I drop the 2nd (F#) and the 6th (C). Noticed anything? They're the same notes as were dropped from the G major to make the major pentatonic.

If you know how to form a major scale, it's easy to make the pentatonic. Take the scale of G that you mentioned, it's made up of 7 notes - G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, then back to G. Each of these notes is designated a position in the scale (called the degree of scale). G is 1, A is 2, B is 3, etc.. This means that, no matter what the key, I can still refer to the correct position in the scale. In G, the 3rd degree is B and in C, the 3rd degree is E (C, D, E..).
To make a major pentatonic, I just drop the 4th and the 7th degrees - so in G, I drop C (4th) and F# (7th).

If you want to make a minor pentatonic (from the relative minor), you drop the 2nd and 6th degrees. The relative minor of G is E (i.e. the 6th degree of G) - E, F#, G, A, B, C, D. So I drop the 2nd (F#) and the 6th (C). Noticed anything? They're the same notes as were dropped from the G major to make the major pentatonic.

That's eaiser for me to understand. I'm guessing that is the shortcut for it and Alan Green is the technical answer for it.

If you click on the "Greybeard's Pages" in my sig and click on "Scales", you'll see how they relate to one another.

What makes you drop anything?

I'm not getting that part.

Plus, why drop? Plus why drop 4 and 7 or why drop 2 and 6?

None of that is making any sense to me. What is the rule? How do you know what rule applies to what scale and why any rules in the first place? Can you begin to understand why I'm asking? Is this what makes theory, theory?

I need an aspirin.

What makes you drop anything?
Western music normally consists of a 7-note scale, but some people want to create a different sound, by only using 5 of them. To get 5 from 7 you have to drop 2 notes.
Plus, why drop?
What else are you going to do? We have a system that is based upon 7 tones out of a chromatic sequrence of 12. That sequence is ALWAYS the same for a major scale, which consists of two 4-note sequences, separated by a whole tone. The 4-note sequences are separated by a wholetone, a wholetone and a semitone (W, W, T). Put two of those together and add a wholetone separator and you get W, W, T, W, W, W, T - the major scale. To get a pentatonic scale of only 5 notes, you have to take 2 of those notes away.
Plus why drop 4 and 7 or why drop 2 and 6?
I must admit, offhand, I can't remember the reason for it being the the 4 and 7 that are dropped (I have an idea, but I'm not going to put it into words, until I can check it out).
If you accept that 4 and 7 are being dropped, the "why" for 2 and 6 in the minor scale is obvious - they are the same notes
| |
major 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 1
C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C
---------------------------------------------------------
minor A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 1
| |
Theory is not a set of rules, cast in stone. Theory is the condensed observations of musicians over many centuries as to what sounds good and what doesn't. It is the grammar of music. You can do whatever you like, but you'll almost certainly end up agreeing with musical theory.

What makes you drop anything?

I'm not getting that part.

Plus, why drop? Plus why drop 4 and 7 or why drop 2 and 6?

None of that is making any sense to me. What is the rule? How do you know what rule applies to what scale and why any rules in the first place? Can you begin to understand why I'm asking? Is this what makes theory, theory?

I need an aspirin.

"Drop" as in left out, not as in 'lowered,' if that's what you mean. :)

Scales are made up of intervals - the distance between one note and the next. The smallest interval (in Western traditional music) would be the 'half-step;' like going from one fret to the next one up or down. A 'whole step' would be two frets up (or down). Scales aren't a set of 'rules' but are more like a formula - half-steps and whole-steps mixed together, and with these have been made all the different sorts of scales we have today, and one of them is the one you asked about, the major pentatonic. It's a series of half- and whole-steps in a certain order and a certain combination...that's all. There aren't any half-steps (one fret distances) by themselves, but are combined into four-fret intervals - that would be called one-and-a-half-steps. And since it's pentatonic as was mentioned above, it means it doesn't use all the notes of say, a regular major scale.

'Theory' is more like a group of things that have become 'common usage' in Western traditional music. You could call them rules, but they're not rules to restrict you; they're rules to guide you into what has already been done over the previous centuries.

You ask about why there are 'rules.' Without them there would be no recognizable form or design to music. It would become random notes played at random times, notes/pitches played so close together they clash, chords that made no sense; it would become, basically, noise.

Not to say there's anything wrong with 'noise.' I admire and enjoy the random, never repeating sounds of a waterfall or wind through the trees, but it's with the understanding that it's a far more complex sort of music than I could ever transcribe, and so I simply enjoy it. Those collections of sounds don't follow any 'rules' per se, but they are enjoyable. Trying to do the same thing with musical instruments results in caos.

So that's why there are 'rules' (or guides) in music. :)

Thanks very much for your time and patience to answer my questions.

You are both very helpful.

Also, sorry if I hi-jacked the thread. Sometimes I'm not even sure what I want to ask. :oops:

I would have thought that your teacher would have shown you some pentatonic fingering positions. There are 5 'popular' ones.