Best Uses of the Major Pentatonic Scale
In this video we're going to discuss how to form major pentatonic scales, and they're very popular in all kinds of music, and we're going to discuss, to start, the C major pentatonic scale, which is going to sound like this. The reason they're called pentatonic scales is because they consist of five unique notes, and then C is the octave. And just like we explained all the other scales, we're going to do it in terms of kind of creating a formula for them so you're not going to be stuck in one key. You'll be able to know it for all keys. So, the formula for this one consists of whole steps and half-steps. Whole step is when you skip a note. A half-step is when you don't skip a note, so there's a whole step; there's a half-step. Now, also in this formula there's going to be a minor-third interval, and a minor-third interval is when you skip two notes, so you'll have two notes in between. So if you did a minor- that's a minor-third interval. That is a minor-third interval, because you've got two notes in between, and so the formula to make any major pentatonic scale is first a whole step, then another whole step, then a minor third, then a whole step, then a minor third. So, again, that's whole, whole, minor third, whole, minor third. So, if you wanted to do that, say, in F, you use that same formula. So here's F. Now we're going to go whole step, whole step, minor third, whole step, minor third. So, they're very good scales to use. Try to learn them in all different keys, and then you can also play around with different patterns with them. One I like to do is just kind of an arpeggiation playing all of them up and down, so you go up the first five notes. Then start with the next one and so on and so forth. Then you can even skip certain notes going up and down, but you'll hear these particular sounds in all kinds of pop songs, happy-sounding songs, but the key is to try and figure them out in all different keys so that you're never stuck not being able to play in any sort of situation. So, remember that formula, whole, whole, minor third, whole, minor third, and you can build a major pentatonic scale anywhere you want on the keyboard.