Major Pentatonic Scale

Penta means five, thus the pentatonic scale has five notes. In our first blues guitar lesson we discussed the major scale and numbered the notes 1 through 8, 1 and 8 being an octave. For the pentatonic scale were going to remove a couple of those notes, specifically the 4 and the 7. These five notes are the major pentatonic scale. If you play them in sequence you may hear a few songs coming out. The Temptations hit “My Girl” starts with this exact scale.

At this point we need to understand what makes a minor scale. In review, we learned that the major scale is made up of a sequence of whole steps and half steps. A whole step traverses two notes, a half step one. Playing the major scale in C on a piano we simply play all the white keys fron C to C. We also notice that there are no black keys in between the B and the C as well as the E and the F. Therefore, we deduce that the major scale, whose notes we have numbered 1 thru 8 is made up of five whole steps and two half steps. There is a black key in between the first and the second notes (whole step) as well as the second and third (whole step) however there is no black key  between the third and fourth or the seventh and eighth, these are half steps.

Minor Pentatonic Scale

Using the major scale as our frame of reference, if we move the 3rd, 6th, and 7th tones down (in tone, up the neck) a half step we get the natural minor scale. So, a natural minor scale would be 1, 2, flat3, 4, 5, flat6, flat7. To make it a minor pentatonic we get rid of the 2 and the flat6. NOW we’re playin’ some blues.

Playing either the major OR minor pentatonic scale over the blues chord progression works. Major and minor blues have distinct and different flavors which can be “messed” with by adding in other notes to the scales. As you experiment you will find that some work and some do not.

Adding in a flat5 while playing the minor pentatonic sounds good, a nice passing tone. Putting in a 3 (as opposed to a flat3) while playing the minor pentatonic works nicely too.

In reality, the blues scale, major or minor, is completely open to personal interpretation. Its the blues, just play.

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