Re: [Harp-L] Blues scale vs. Pentatonic scale



What you stated for the pentatonic scale is the major pentatonic scale.

The pentatonic scale the guitar players you've encountered are referring to the minor pentatonic scale, which is, using your nomenclature:

I + IIIb + IV + V + VIIb

Which, if you'll notice, becomes the blues scale when you add a passing chromatic tone between the IV & V

And, if you'll notice, start a major pentatonic on the VI (or think of it as the fifth note of the major pentatonic scale) and you get a minor pentatonic scale. Start a minor pentatonic on the second note of that minor pentatonic, and you'll get a major pentatonic.

Let's use notes, not numbers:

C Major pentatonic:

C D E G A

A Minor pentatonic:

A C D E G

A Minor blues scale:

A C D Db E G A

Hope this makes sense.

By the way, I've found that the major pentatonic scale works very well not only in country, but in R & B and Rock n' Roll. You use it a little differently, but it's a good glue scale to go between blues and dominant sounds.

Rex "Rich" Tobago
Professional musical instrument owner


On Oct 30, 2007, at 7:54 PM, Guy Buxman wrote:


Playing harp in a garage band and performing at many jams around Southern
California, I routinely encounter guitar players who assert that the blues
scale is merely the pentatonic scale with a few flattened notes. Now I'm
only just learning about music theory so I don't claim to be an expert;
however the reading I've done recently describes a distinct scale for blues.


If I understand it rightly, the blues scale is:
I + III b + IV + V b + V + VII b

and the pentatonic scale which, according to David Harp, is most commonly
used for country/western is:
I + II + III + V + VI


Is there any real correlation between the pentatonic and the blues scales?

- GB
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