Major and Minor Pentatonics

According to the Music Scales Website:

"A pentatonic is simply a scale of five notes. A series of any five notes per octave will qualify as
a pentatonic scale. A Major pentatonic in "C" comprises C, D, E, G and A... which is a common
scale used by most cultures in the world. This is achieved by removing the 4th and 7th notes.
What is interesting is that if we remove the 4th and 7th notes from the modal scales, we get
quite remarkable results."

Anyway, as seen by the definition, creating pentatonics is quite endless. There are many many
different types of pentatonic scales dat we hear for chinese, japanese, indonesian, and even
arabian music. All these scales can be derived from the western major and minor scales.

This time, i'll just talk about major and minor pentatonics. The major pentatonic scale can be
derived by removing the 4th and 7th degrees of the respective major scale while the minor
pentatonic scale can be derived by removing the 2nd and 6th degrees of the respective minor
scale pentatonic is formed with the semitone jump of 22323 while the minor pentatonic is
formed with the semitone jump of 32232.

Let's use Cmaj as an example. The scale for C is C D E F G A B (C). C is the 1st and 8th degrees.
Dis 2nd, E is 3rd, F is 4th, G is 5th, A is 6th and B is 7th. To get Cmaj pentatonic, simple. We just
remove the 4th and 7th degrees which is F and B respectively and we get C D E G A C. The same
goes with deriving Cmin pentatonic.

Cmaj - C D E G A C
Cmin - C D# F G A# C

Now, using Cmaj pentatonic as an example, notice dat comparing a major and minor pentatonic
scale in the SAME key, we notice dat the 2nd, 3d and 6th degrees of the minor pentatonic are 1/2
step sharper than dat of the major pentatonic? Therefore, once u have either major or minor
pentatonic scale, u can attain the other just by simply sharpening or flattening the 2nd, 3rd and
6th degrees! Simple stuff!

These are the Major and Minor Pentatonic scales all 24 of them:


Dbmaj - Db Eb F Ab Bb Db               Dmaj - D E F# A B D
C#min - C# E F# G# B C#               Dmin - D F G A C D

Ebmaj - Eb F G Bb C Eb                    Emaj - E F# G# B C# E
D#min - D# F# G# A# C# D#          Emin - E G A B D E

Fmaj - F G A C D F                            F#maj - F# G# A# C# D# F#
Fmin - F G# A# C D# F                     F#min - F# A B C# E F#

Gmaj - G A B D E G                           Abmaj - Ab Bb C Eb F Ab
Gmin - G A# C D F G                         G#min - G# B C# D# F# G#

Amaj - A B C# E F# A                      Bbmaj - Bb C D F G Bb
Amin - A C D E G A                           A#min - A# C# D# F G# A#

Bmaj - B C# D# F# G# B
Bmin - B D E F# A B

Major pentatonics sound really oriental like? U will likely hear the pentatonic being played on
oriental instruments like the Gu Zheng or Koto, Yang Qin or Yokin, Er Hu or Niko and Pipa or Biwa
etc etc.

Minor pentatonics sound very much like the blues. The only difference is the blues has an extra
note dat is 1/2 a step or 1 semitone higher than the 4th degree and 1/2 step lower than the 5th
degree of the blues scale. For example, in Cblues, the extra note is an F#.

C D# F (F#) G A# C