You know that little pentatonic scale we all know and love with the intervals
- 1 b3 4 5 7. Lets 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 - lets say youve got an A minor chord - the first thing we can do is obviously play the A minor pent over it, but thats 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 heres 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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