Pentatonic scales… a bit of fun!

[Rich F]

Hi all!

I was having a refresher on pentatonic scales (I was interested in which notes from the octave actually made up the minor and major pentatonic scales, and which omes we leave out), and I found this fascinating site…

https://hellomusictheory.com/learn/pentatonic-scale/

Two things struck me there. I thought pentatonics were modern, invented for rock and blues, but look at the discovery of the ancient flute, from 40,000 years ago, tuned to the pentatonic!

The other thing, and so funny, is Bobbyy McFerrin’s science video there!

[JohnStrat]

Rich,
An interesting post and a great video. On my guitar journey It has struck me that it is wise to get the Major scales fully under your belt and particularly target the intervals because intervals seems to me to be where it all pivots from being the core feature underlying it all and as the video seems to prove.
JohnStrat

[charjo]

Hi John,
I agree, intervals are key to my understanding of improvising but in connection with CAGED shapes, arpeggios, triads, root locations and note names as well as pentatonic boxes. The more I can integrate, the better I see the fretboard.
John

[Jean-Michel G]

I agree: for Western music, the major scale is the mother of all scales.
The pentatonic scale(s) have certainly been used long before the major scale all over the world, but in order to understand music you need the major scale.

[Author]

Posts