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Minor pentatonics.?


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do they develop from the sixth note of the relative major key.?

 

for example is the Gminor pentatonic created from the key of Bb.

 

and if it is why does it work over the 1 4 5 in G major.?

 

 

:confused:

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1. The Minor Pentatonic is based off the 6th degree of the Major Scale, or the 5th degree of the MAJOR pentatonic

2. The minor and major pentatonic ARE THE SAME SCALE, they just RESOLVE of different notes.

3. In theoretical terms, the minor pentatonic does not work over a Dominant (ex: C7) chord because the minor pentatonic has a minor third interval and the Dominant chords has a major third. It works though because our ears associate the bluesy sound to a minor third rubbing up against a major third. That's why it works, just avoid the minor third unless you can make it sound good.

 

Ex.

C Major scale = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (CDEFGAB)

C minor Pent = 1 b3 4 5 b7 (C Eb F G Bb)

C dominant chord (c7) = 1 3 5 b7 (C E G bB)

 

C Maj Pentatonic = 1 2 3 5 6 ( C D E G A )

A min pent vis a vis C major = 6 1 2 3 5 (A C D E G )

A min on its own = 1 b3 4 5 7b

A min Pent = C maj pent

 

All these numbers represent scale degrees of the major scale. I modify them to accomodate a scale. Ie. Dorian scale is the major scale with a flated 3rd and 7th, so 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7.

 

The reason the scale works with most of the progression though, is because they harmonise or do not fight against the played chords. So the chords of a blues I IV V progression in C is C7, F7 and G7. Keep in mind the blues is far from diatonic...

 

C minor pent is 1 b3 4 5 7b = c Eb F G Bb

 

C7 is 1 3 5 b7 = C E G Bb

F7 is 4 6 8 b3 = F A C Eb

G7 is 5 7 2 4 = G B D F

 

So you can see that the minor pentatonic works well over all the chords except for on I, when the Minor 3rd of the scale conflicts with the Maj 3rd of the Chord. This is theoretically incorrect but sounds good because it is the bluesey sound we're used to.

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