Pentatonic Scales
Senior 2 · Music
Pentatonic Scales
Lesson 1 of 4
20 min
Some of the oldest and most widespread melodies in the world use only five different notes. A scale of five notes is called a pentatonic scale, from the Greek word pente, "five". Pentatonic scales are found in the traditional music of many parts of Africa and Asia, in Scottish and Irish folk songs, in African-American spirituals and gospel music, and in the tuning of Rwandan instruments such as the inanga, which you will meet in Lesson 4. The most common kind has no semitones, so its notes rarely clash; that is why it is so easy to sing, play and improvise with.
A major or minor scale is heptatonic: it has seven different notes before the octave. A pentatonic scale has five. Musicians divide pentatonic scales into two kinds: anhemitonic scales, which contain no semitones, and hemitonic scales, which contain at least one. The anhemitonic kind is by far the most common, and it is the kind this unit studies.
Start with a major scale and leave out the two notes that make its semitones: the 4th degree (fah), which is a semitone above me, and the 7th degree (te), which is a semitone below high doh. The five notes left are degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, in sol-fa d r m s l.
The steps of the major pentatonic scale are T, T, T+S, T, T+S: two tones, a gap of three semitones, a tone, and another three-semitone gap up to the tonic. There are no semitones at all.
Worked example 1
G major pentatonic. G major is G A B C D E F♯ G. Leave out the 4th degree (C) and the 7th (F♯): G A B D E. Check the steps: G–A tone, A–B tone, B–D three semitones, D–E tone, E–G three semitones.
Worked example 2
F major pentatonic. F major is F G A B♭ C D E F. Leave out the 4th degree (B♭) and the 7th (E): F G A C D. The flat has disappeared, because B♭ was the 4th degree.
The five black keys of a piano form a pentatonic scale on their own: G♭ A♭ B♭ D♭ E♭, which can also be named F♯ G♯ A♯ C♯ D♯. Any tune played only on the black keys sounds pentatonic. Frédéric Chopin's Étude in G♭ major, Op. 10 No. 5, is nicknamed the "Black Key" Étude because its right-hand part uses this scale.
Start on C and move up by fifths, five letter names at a time: C, G, D, A, E. Put these five notes in order inside one octave and you get C D E G A, the C major pentatonic scale again.
Many well-known melodies use only the five notes of a pentatonic scale. One example is the traditional American tune usually sung to the hymn "Amazing Grace". Sing it in sol-fa and you will find no fah and no te.
Tip
Drop fah and te. Sing d r m f s l t d', then sing it again without f and t: d r m s l d'. That is the major pentatonic scale, and it has no semitones.
Try each question first, then check the worked solution underneath.
Build the D major pentatonic scale.
Solution: D E F♯ A B. D major is D E F♯ G A B C♯ D; leave out the 4th (G) and the 7th (C♯).
Which degrees of the major scale are left out to make the major pentatonic, and what are their sol-fa names?
Solution: The 4th degree (fah) and the 7th degree (te).
In C major pentatonic, how many semitones are there from E up to G?
Solution: Three: E to F, F to F♯, F♯ to G. This is one of the two three-semitone gaps in the scale.
Does the black-key scale contain any semitones?
Solution: No. Neighbouring black keys are either a tone apart (such as A♭ to B♭) or three semitones apart (such as B♭ to D♭).
Build the B♭ major pentatonic scale.
Solution: B♭ C D F G. B♭ major is B♭ C D E♭ F G A B♭; leave out the 4th (E♭) and the 7th (A).
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
