Pentatonics

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Lesson written by Simeon Harris, Textural Guitarist - www.SimeonHarris.co.uk.

You know that little pentatonic scale we all know and love with the intervals
- 1 b3 4 5 7. Let’s see if we can hijack it and make it work for us in a jazz context...

The regular major scale produces three pentatonic scales from the 2nd, 3rd and 5th degrees…

C major = C D E F G A B C

So we get:

D minor pentatonic - D F G A C
E minor pentatonic - E G A B D
A minor pentatonic - A C D E G

So the first thing we can do is try using some pentatonics over some regular chords - let’s say you’ve got an A minor chord - the first thing we can do is obviously play the A minor pent over it, but that’s a bit boring - why not try the E minor pent?

This gives us the intervals…

E = 5th of A minor
G = 7th of A minor
A = Root
B = 9th
D = 11th

Much nicer than A minor pentatonic, because we get more upper intervals (9ths and 11ths etc)

The Dmin pentatonic doesn't sound so good, because it has the F in it - b6 in A.

This trick works over other types of chords too… here’s a list… and see if you can figure out which pentatonics to use to play over the following jazzy sequence…

Dm9 / G7b9 / Cmaj7#11 / A7#5

Answer at the end...

m7	Up a 5th	e.g. Over Cm7 play G minor pentatonic
maj7	Up a major third	e.g. Over Cmaj7 play E minor pentatonic
maj7#11	Down a semi-tone	e.g. Over Cmaj7#11 play B minor pentatonic
7	Up a 6th	e.g. Over C7 play A minor pentatonic
7#9	Root	e.g. Over C7#9 play C minor pentatonic
7 altered	Up a minor third	e.g. Over C altered play Eb minor pentatonic
m7b5	Up a minor third	e.g. Over Cm7b5 play Eb minor pentatonic
7sus4	Up a second	e.g. Over C7sus4 play D minor pentatonic

Another useful pentatonic scale is the Kumoi pentatonic - 1 b2 4 5 b7 - and is used over the 7susb9 chord - common in jazz and found in such tunes as Ana Maria by Wayne Shorter.

G7susb9 = G C D F Ab - usually played - G (in the bass) + Ab C D G
G Kumoi = G Ab C D F

The answer to the above riddle is...

Dm9 use Amin pentatonic
G7b9 use Bbmin pentatonic
Cmaj7#11 use Bm pentatonic
A7#5 use Cmin pentatonic

The pentatonics imply D Dorian, G altered, C Lydian and C altered.

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