minor scale pentatonic

[imandolinin]

Hi,

Quick question for people out there who know a lot more about music theory than me:

If I'm playing a song in a root minor scale (G#m for example), is there both a major pentatonic and minor pentatonic? And would the correct notation be G#m major pentatonic and/or G#m minor pentatonic?

Thanks,

Tommy

[Mark Robertson-Tessi]

The major pentatonic scale is the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th notes of the major scale. For example:
A C major scale is C D E F G A B C
The bold letters are the C major pentatonic scale.

The minor pentatonic is the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th notes of the natural minor scale. For example:
A C minor scale is C D Eb F G Ab Bb C
Aagain, C minor pentatonic scale is bold.

G# minor pentatonic is therefore:
G# A# B C# D# E F# G#

G# major is a pretty rare key because it has 8 sharps. Most people would probably instead use A-flat major. Still:
G# major pentatonic: G# A# B# D# E# G#
Ab major pentatonic: Ab Bb C Eb F Ab

Same sound, same fret positions, different names for the notes.

In general, a major pentatonic, starting and ending on the root note is the following pattern.
2 frets, 2 frets, 3 frets, 2 frets, 3 frets
The minor one follows:
3 frets, 2 frets, 2 frets, 3 frets, 2 frets

Cheers
MRT

[imandolinin]

Thanks for the quick response. I see that you are notating the G# major scale with B# and E# and I remember that there was a dialogue about this recently on the forum. Is it safe to say when playing in a minor scale, use the minor pentatonic? Would you ever use the notes: G# A# B D# E G# as in the major?

[Jim Bevan]

It helps to know that the major and minor are identical, just starting on a different step of the scale:
C major pentatonic has the same notes as A minor pentatonic.

Cuts your practising time in half.

[Mark Robertson-Tessi]

Thanks for the quick response. I see that you are notating the G# major scale with B# and E# and I remember that there was a dialogue about this recently on the forum.

Writing it as C and F might seem easier to process if the crazy sharps aren't comfortable. But, this is the technically correct way to write it because the major and minor scales have each of the 7 letters once and only once. The third scale degree of any scale that is in the key of G-anything is some type of B. For G# major, the major third above G# is the same pitch as a C note. But, it has to be a B note, so it should be written B#. I said G# major was rare because you need to double sharp the F, even. The seventh tone of a major scale is a half step below the root. A half-step below G# is G. But, it has to be written as an F note, so the F note that sounds like a G is F##! Technicalities, but it's a bit like the difference between 'your' and 'you're'. Some people don't care, some people do.

Is it safe to say when playing in a minor scale, use the minor pentatonic? Would you ever use the notes: G# A# B D# E G# as in the major?

Sure. You can use whatever notes you want! They will have different sounds. The pentatonic is very "safe". Very hard to hit a note that clashes with the chord and sounds wrong. The scale you listed is also a type of pentatonic. Also pretty safe, though in some tunes, the E might be problematic depending on the harmony. Minor is a bit tricky because the 6th and 7th scale notes are sometimes modified, which is why we have three common types of minor scales: natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor.

The pentatonic is a good skeleton to work with because it uses the chord tones plus a few other safe connecting notes. Therefore a good place to start, but not a good place to stop! There's a basic structure of the notes over a major chord which looks like this:

Root note:
C
Chord tones:
C - E - G
Major Pentatonic:
C D E - G A
Major scale:
C D E F G A B
Chromatic:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B

Notice that each set contains the one above it. If you stick to chord tones, it's the safest. But then you are just playing arpeggios, which will be quickly get dull. As you move down the list, there's more room for interesting improvisation, but also more chance for "wrong" notes! So the pentatonic is a good compromise, and you can add notes from there as you learn new approaches.

Cheers
MRT