Pentatonic Scales
Senior 2 · Music
Pentatonic Scales
Lesson 3 of 4
22 min
A choir or a band may need a pentatonic song in a key that suits its singers or instruments. To do that you must be able to build pentatonic scales in keys with sharps and flats, and to move a pentatonic melody from one key into another without changing its tune.
Every major pentatonic scale has a relative minor pentatonic that uses the same five notes. Its tonic is the 6th degree (lah) of the major key, three semitones below the major tonic. On the staff, a pentatonic melody is written with the key signature of its parent key.
| Key signature | Major pentatonic | Relative minor pentatonic |
|---|---|---|
| none | C: C D E G A | A: A C D E G |
| 1 sharp | G: G A B D E | E: E G A B D |
| 2 sharps | D: D E F♯ A B | B: B D E F♯ A |
| 3 sharps | A: A B C♯ E F♯ | F♯: F♯ A B C♯ E |
| 1 flat | F: F G A C D | D: D F G A C |
| 2 flats | B♭: B♭ C D F G | G: G B♭ C D F |
| 3 flats | E♭: E♭ F G B♭ C | C: C E♭ F G B♭ |
Look at F major pentatonic: its key signature has one flat, yet B♭ never appears, because B♭ is the 4th degree, one of the two notes left out. In the same way, G major pentatonic never uses F♯, its 7th degree.
Worked example
Find the relative minor pentatonic of E♭ major pentatonic. E♭ major pentatonic is E♭ F G B♭ C. The 6th degree of E♭ major is C, three semitones below E♭, so the relative minor pentatonic is C E♭ F G B♭, with the same three-flat key signature.
Use the method from Unit 1: choose the new key, write its key signature, and move every note by the same number of letter steps. Sol-fa shows each note's place in the scale, so the sol-fa never changes. Below, a short pentatonic melody composed by Ganzaa is written in C and then transposed into G and into F.
Worked example
From C up to G is four letter steps (C–D–E–F–G), a fifth, so E moves to B, G to D, A to E, D to A and C to G. From C up to F is three letter steps (C–D–E–F), a fourth, so E moves to A, G to C, A to D, D to G and C to F. In every version the melody uses only the five notes of that key's major pentatonic scale, and the sol-fa is still m s l s, m r d, l s m r, d.
A quick check: after transposing a major pentatonic melody, every note must belong to the new key's d r m s l. If you find the 4th or 7th degree of the new key (its fah or te), a note has been moved by the wrong number of steps.
Tip
Keep the sol-fa, move doh. Write the melody's sol-fa first, find doh in the new key, then write the letter names from the sol-fa. The pentatonic notes of any major key are its d r m s l.
Try each question first, then check the worked solution underneath.
Write D major pentatonic and its relative minor pentatonic.
Solution: D major pentatonic: D E F♯ A B. Its relative, B minor pentatonic: B D E F♯ A. Both use two sharps in the key signature.
Write B♭ major pentatonic and its relative minor pentatonic.
Solution: B♭ major pentatonic: B♭ C D F G. Its relative, G minor pentatonic: G B♭ C D F.
Transpose the opening of Ganzaa's melody (E G A G in C) into D.
Solution: F♯ A B A. D is one letter step above C, so E moves to F (sharp in D major), G to A and A to B. The sol-fa stays m s l s.
A pentatonic melody in G has the sol-fa d r m s. Write its letter names.
Solution: G A B D. In G major, d = G, r = A, m = B and s = D.
A student transposes the melody from C into F and writes B♭ in the first bar. What went wrong?
Solution: The first bar, E G A G, moves up three letter steps to A C D C. B♭ is fah in F major, which a major pentatonic melody never uses, so one note was moved by the wrong number of steps.
Remember
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