Thanks Vince and Bob!
That does help. I guess my confussion was based in the book's total
omission of the Minor pentatonic scale.
I agree that the pentatonic scale is not limited to country/
western; the signature riff in "My Girl" is a classic example of
the pentatonic scale in an R&B tune.
Thanks for your input,
Guy
On 10/30/07, Vince Meghrouni <Foomcorp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 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
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l