The pentatonic scale
The pentatonic scale is a five-note scale: the major scale without its 4th and 7th, or the natural minor without its 2nd and 6th. Those are the notes most likely to rub against the chords, so with them gone almost anything you play fits, which is why riffs, solos and folk tunes the world over use it. Tap any box on the grid below: every bright row is a note of A minor pentatonic, and the chords take whatever you add.
Add any note: it fits
- Bar 1Am
- Bar 2F
- Bar 3C
- Bar 4G
The faded lanes are the beat and the chords, Am, F, C and G, one bar each; they stay as they are. The seven bright rows are A, C, D, E and G across two octaves. Press play, then tap boxes while it runs. Switch to all seven notes to get B and F back, and try them over each chord.
Write melodies that fit
The part people hum. The melody chapter covers shape, steps and leaps, notes that fit and a hook of your own. Unit 1 is free with a Google sign-in.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1; melody comes in Unit 5: Melody.
The two notes it leaves out
The major scale has two half steps, between the 3rd and 4th and between the 7th and the octave. Those tight spots are where melody notes grind against chord notes. The pentatonic drops one note from each pair, so it has no half steps at all: only whole steps and a few step-and-a-half gaps.
Over the loop’s chords, that is easy to hear. With all seven notes switched on, an F against the C chord sits a half step above the chord’s E and rubs; a B against the F chord makes a sharp, unsettled sound. Neither can happen in the five-note grid. What is left can still make tension, a C held over the G chord wants to fall to B, but nothing sounds like a wrong note.
Major and minor pentatonic
The major pentatonic is degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the major scale: in C, C, D, E, G, A. The minor pentatonic is 1, ♭3, 4, 5 and ♭7 of the natural minor: in A, A, C, D, E, G. They are the same five notes with a different home, just as C major and A minor are. Switch the strip between them and only the starting note moves.
- W
- W
- W+H
- W
- W+H
A quick way to find one: the black keys of a piano, F♯, G♯, A♯, C♯ and D♯, are a pentatonic scale on their own. Play only black keys and it is hard to sound wrong.
Where you hear it
Riffs. A short figure from these five notes can repeat over every chord of a loop, which is exactly what the pentatonic riff pattern does. The call and response hook uses the same five notes to ask and answer.
Solos. The minor pentatonic is the classic rock and blues guitar scale: it sits easily under the fingers and fits over a 12-bar blues.
Melodies. Many folk songs, from Scotland to West Africa to East Asia, are built on pentatonic scales, and so are plenty of pop and trap hooks. When a melody sounds simple and singable, count its notes: there are often only five.
Find the pentatonics in every key with the scale finder, and try the black-key trick on the piano.