The pentatonic scale is everywhere!
From rock and blues to jazz and world music, the pentatonic scale is among the most popular scales musicians learn. Whether you are learning jazz solos or studying the music of the Middle Ages, you’ll be sure to come across this five-note scale in your journey.
However, many musicians don’t take advantage of all the different ways you can apply the major and minor pentatonic scales.
Usually, the pentatonic scale is only considered in a rock or blues context. By stopping there, you are missing out on so much more! If you look deeper, you’ll discover that the pentatonic scale has much more to offer, and that’s exactly what we’ll explore in this post!
And, if you want to get better at jazz and unlock the secrets of the pentatonic scale (and many other important jazz scales), then you need to check out the Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle!
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Table of Contents
Important Scale Disclaimer!
Now, before we dive into pentatonic scales, we have to take a minute to discuss what scales actually are. Scales are simply sequences of pitches. Functionally, studying scales helps us conceptualize music and learn our instruments better.
However, they are not musical in and of themselves.
They help us group notes together functionally and understand music theory, but the scales are just pitch sequences. It’s up to the musician to take those collections of pitches and make music out of them.
You must keep this in mind when practicing! Practicing scales is not playing music!
Introducing The Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales
Pentatonic scales are some of the oldest and most widespread scales in the world. Pentatonic scales can be found in the musical traditions of cultures from all over the world. In music theory, pentatonic scales are kind of like skeleton scales. They contain some basic information from which you can create bigger scales with more notes.
For example, the C major pentatonic scale is like the C major scale, with the 4th and 7th scale degrees removed. Likewise, the A minor pentatonic scale is like the A natural minor scale with the 2nd and 6th scale degrees removed.
The resulting pentatonic scales contain no half-steps and are more versatile than their seven-note counterparts. Essentially, one pentatonic scale has way more applications than larger scales like the major or minor scales.
Major Scale Vs. Major Pentatonic Scale
Let’s compare the C major scale to the major pentatonic scale:
Major Scale Formula:
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1
- C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
To transform the C major scale into the major pentatonic scale, we’ll need to remove the 4th and 7th scale degrees. In the key of C, we must remove the F and the B from the scale.
Major Pentatonic Scale Formula:
- 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 1
- C-D-E-G-A
Natural Minor Scale Vs. Minor Pentatonic Scale
The relationship between the A minor scale and the A minor pentatonic scale is just like the relationship between C major and C major pentatonic. If we remove F and B from an A natural minor scale, we’ll get the A minor pentatonic scale.
Minor Scale Formula:
- 1-2-ā3-4-5-ā6-ā7-1
- A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A
Minor Pentatonic Scale Formula:
- 1-ā3-4-5-ā7-1
- A-C-D-E-G-A
The C Major Pentatonic Scale and A Minor Pentatonic Scale Are The Same Sequence Of Notes
Are you familiar with relative major and minor? The notes in C major are the same sequence as the notes in A minor. This relationship holds true for major and minor pentatonic scales, too.
Two Scales. Same Notes!
- Minor Pentatonic Scale: A-[C-D-E-G-A]-C-D-E-G-A
- Major Pentatonic Scale: C-D-E-G-[A-C-D-E-G]-A-C
It’s the same sequence; only one starts on C, and the other starts on A. Otherwise, these scales are made from the same notes.
From now on, we’ll mostly refer to the minor pentatonic scale because the C major pentatonic scale and the A minor pentatonic scale are essentially the same.
For more on major scales, minor scales, and modes, check out our ultimate guide to modes.
The Usual Suspects: Common Applications for the Pentatonic Scale
The following uses for the minor and major pentatonic scales are more in line with what you’d expect for pentatonic scales. After we cover these more obvious uses, we’ll dive into less common uses.
1. Root Minor Chords
This one makes a lot of sense.
It’s a minor scale with five notes, so playing this scale over a minor chord makes sense.
When I say root minor chords, I mean that the chord’s root is the same as the scale’s root note. So you can play an A minor pentatonic over an Amin7 (or Am) chord. Take a look and then listen:
2. Root Dominant 7th Chords
In the same way, this pentatonic scale can be played over an A7 chord. This is most commonly applied in a blues situation. The scale does skip the 3rd of A7 (C#), which would spell out the difference between a minor and a dominant chord.
Regardless, this grouping of notes works out well. Just remember, nothing is stopping you from adding that 3rd in yourself!
BEFORE YOU CONTINUE...
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Pentatonic Scales and Diatonic Harmony
We can also think about using pentatonic scales in the context of a key center. For example, An A minor chord (corresponding to our A minor pentatonic scale) is relative to C major.
Now we are in the key of C major. What chords are relative to C major? Here they are:
- I: Cmaj7
- ii: Dmin7
- iii: Emin7
- IV: Fmaj7
- V: G7
- vi: Amin7 (relative minor)
- vii: Bmin7(b5)
For pretty much all of these, you can play an A minor pentatonic (which, remember, is the same as the C major pentatonic scale), although there are better choices for some of them.
Let’s go over some of the chords this works well on:
3. The relative major chord
Remember, the A minor pentatonic scale is the same as a C major pentatonic scale, only starting on an A note. What note you start on in a musical situation doesn’t matter.
4. The major IV chord of the relative major.
If we think in the key of C major, the IV chord is F major 7. The 6th note of the F major scale is played in the A minor pentatonic, so if you wanted to be more specific, you could play an Fmaj13 chord.
5. The minor ii chord of the relative major.
In this case, we would play an A minor pentatonic scale over D minor 7. More accurately, you could play a Dmin9 or a Dmin11 since both extensions are hit in the A minor pentatonic.
Of course, you could also play a D minor pentatonic over a Dmin7 chord.
6. The V sus4 chord of the relative major.
In this case, a G7sus. You could play a regular V dominant chord, but since the relative minor pentatonic emphasizes the sus4, it would be appropriate to think of it this way.
It would be more accurate to play a Gsus13 chord since the 6th is also played.
Alternative Pentatonic Scales Over Diatonic Chords
You could play this pentatonic scale over any of the chords in the key center of C major, but there are better options for some diatonic chords.
For example, playing the minor pentatonic from A over an E-7 chord (the iii chord) technically works. But you could just as easily play an E minor pentatonic (or G major pentatonic) over this chord.
E minor (or G Major) Pentatonic Scale Formula:
- E-G-A-B-D-E
But the one that deserves a little bit more attention is the vii half-diminished chord (Bmin7b5).
7. The ii minor pentatonic over the vii chord.
This chord is often thought of as the ii chord in the relative minor (A minor), but this pentatonic doesn’t highlight the most important note in that chord:
- the flat 5 (F)
The minor scale that would highlight that b5 is the D minor pentatonic scale. Therefore, this is a better option to play over this chord.
The Unusual Suspects: Uncommon Applications of the Pentatonic Scale
8. Pentatonic scale a half step down from a Major 7(b5) chord.
Have you ever seen this chord in a playing situation and had no idea how to improvise? This is a great option for grouping notes to play over this chord.
In this particular case, we are playing an A minor pentatonic over a Bbmaj7(b5) chord. Why? The scale starts on the 7th of Bb major, and the pentatonic highlights the most important note in this chord: the flat 5 (E).
9. Applying minor pentatonics to a ii-V-I.
This is a cool application to the most important chord progression in jazz. Check out this video for starters:
Pretty cool, huh? Jazz guitarist Vic Juris has a pretty inventive way to help us apply this scale with some chordal movement. Take a look at it notated out:
We’ve already gone over how the pentatonic scale works over a Dmin7. We’ve also already covered the concept of playing a minor pentatonic scale a half step down from a maj7(b5) chord.
The new member of the group here is the A# pentatonic over the G7alt chord. You can think of this as just playing the pentatonic scale, a minor third up from the root of a given dominant chord. You hit all possible alterations in a dominant seventh chord (#9, b9, #11, #5).
It may sound slightly “out,” but it has a really nice sound when you resolve to the Cmaj7(b5).
Finally, check out this video on how to use pentatonic scales:
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