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ks - Posted - 01/03/2009: 23:54:12
How often is the minor pentatonic scale used in bluegrass?
Texasbanjo - Posted - 01/04/2009: 05:49:08
If you're playing in a minor key, it can be used very easily for improvisation.
Let''s Pick!
Texas Banjo
janolov - Posted - 01/04/2009: 05:58:04
I think that true minor pentatonic scales are rare. Often in the solos there are a lot of "passing notes" added which don't belong to the pentatonic scale (but perhaps to a modal scale). Usually the chords use to be full chords where other notes than the pentatonic notes are used.
Jan-Olov
ukbanjo - Posted - 01/04/2009: 06:04:31
The relative minor of a major pent scale can always be used. So the relative minor to G being Em, you can use a G major pentatonic scale over a Eminor chord and it works really well, and you don't need to learn minor pent scales unless you want to.
Cheers,
Howie (known as "Ukbanjo", but don''t tell anydody!)
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"The nice part of living in a small town is that when I don''t know what I''m doing, someone else does."
Joe Larson - Posted - 01/04/2009: 11:13:33
The minor pentatonic is the basis of the blues scale which is used quite a lot
j
I''d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
Tom Hanway - Posted - 01/08/2009: 17:57:34
You can hear the minor pentatonic scale throughout 'Clinch Mountain Backstep', though another way to hear or think about this tune is that it uses the Dorian mode, leaving out the second and sixth degrees of that tonal sequence. In G, Dorian mode use these notes:
G A Bb C D E F
If we leave out the second and sixth degrees, we have a minor pentatonic scale:
G Bb C D F
G A Bb C D E F - G Dorian scale
G..Bb..C..D..F - G minor pentatonic scale
I like to think of this as a "gapped scale", in this case a gapped Dorian scale. As it turns out, putting back either the second and/or sixth degrees as usable pitches for improvisation doesn't alter the character (modality) of the tune. Other chromatic pitches would change the flavor and cross over into other modes (scales).
Another obvious place where you can hear and improvise with a minor pentatonic scale (also Dorian modal pitches) is in Monroe's 'Bluegrass Breakdown'.
Happy pickin,
Tom Hanway
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''Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.''
- W. B. Yeats
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 01/08/2009 18:27:00
Don Borchelt - Posted - 01/08/2009: 21:05:23
Ja,-Olov wrote: "I think that true minor pentatonic scales are rare."
Tom wrote: "I like to think of this as a "gapped scale", in this case a gapped Dorian scale."
The minor pentatonic scale that Tom defines above is fairly common in American old-time music. Pretty Polly is another example. It is an anhemitonic scale, meaning that it contains no semi-tones, which is key to its sound. Strictly speaking, those five notes are shared by both the Dorian and Aeolian (minor) heptatonic scales:
G..Bb..C..D..F - G minor pentatonic scale
G A Bb C D E F- G Dorian scale
G A Bb C D Eb F - G Aeolian scale
So technically, you can't determine whether or not the pentatonic scale above is Dorian or Aeolian. But I would suggest that a true heptatonic (seven tone) Aeolian (minor) mode scale is very rare in old time Appalachian music. (Perhaps it is more common in the European Celtic music tradition, I'm not sure, Tom would know the answer to that.) Dorian is far more common. So in terms of Appalachian music at least, which is what I mostly play, I agree with Tom; I think that the five note scale above is really best thought of as a gapped Dorian scale, not a gapped Aeolian scale. it just sounds modal, not minor, if that makes any sense.
- Don Borchelt
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"I don''t like to play it like he did. I try to play it the way I play it" - fiddler Lester McCumbers, interviewed by Erynn Marshall
Check out my webpage.
Mirek Patek - Posted - 01/08/2009: 23:01:48
quote:
Originally posted by Tom Hanway
Other chromatic pitches would change the flavor and cross over into other modes (scales).
Fully aware that I am departing from bluegrass mentioned in the original question, I cannot resist to complete the list of scales get by filling the gaps of minor melodic scale. Two gaps with two options each give four results:
G - Bb C D - F = G pentatonic minor
G A Bb C D E F = G dorian mode
G A Bb C D Eb F = G aeolian mode
G Ab Bb C D Eb F = G phrygian mode
G Ab Bb C D E F = 2nd mode of F melodic minor (or 5th mode of C melodic major)
Back from combinatorics to music (again not bluegrass). One can try to "harmonise" the pentatonic scale up and down the neck like it is usually done with full scales - using just the notes of the pentatonics.
With the doublestop:
G-Bb, B-C, C-D, D-F, F-G
or
G-C, Bb-D, C-F, D-G, F-Bb
With the triad:
G-Bb-D, Bb-C-F, C-D-G, D-F-Bb, F-G-C
or even
G-Bb-C, Bb-C-D, C-D-F, D-F-G, F-G-Bb
in whatever inversion, played as pinches or as rolls.
Finally with the four-note chord:
G-Bb-D-F, Bb-C-F-G, C-D-G-Bb, D-F-Bb-C, F-G-C-D
Mirek
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Klondike Waldo - Posted - 01/10/2009: 16:52:48
quote:
Originally posted by ukbanjo
The relative minor of a major pent scale can always be used. So the relative minor to G being Em, you can use a G major pentatonic scale over a Eminor chord and it works really well, and you don't need to learn minor pent scales unless you want to.
Cheers,
Howie (known as "Ukbanjo", but don''t tell anydody!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The nice part of living in a small town is that when I don''t know what I''m doing, someone else does."
The G Major and Eminor pentatonic scales have exactly the same tones- which scale it is is entirely up to where you are at the end!
So have at it.
I''ll never play like Earl Scruggs or sing like Luciano Pavarotti, but I''ll pick better than Luciano and sing tenor better than Earl
deligo ergo renideo,
Bob Cameron
rmr3599@att.net - Posted - 05/11/2009: 19:08:11
On a little different not...
I was looking at your web page and saw the banj r' cat...
It's amazing how cats are drawn to the banjo.
Our cat loves to come up and get in my lap when
I'm practicing. I guess something in the tones that
are really pleasing to the cat I guess...
enjoyed browsing your site.
Mike,
Hebrews 13:2
Don Borchelt - Posted - 05/12/2009: 17:51:44
Mike wrote: "I was looking at your web page and saw the banj r' cat... "
Yeah, Fred is now about 16, getting old. He's not allowed outside anymore, gotten too slow, and he has to take a pill everyday. He used to play the banjo all the time (I gave him his own Mastertone), but he's become really lazy, and only plays at 6am, when he wants to force me to wake up and get him breakfast.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I don''t like to play it like he did. I try to play it the way I play it" - fiddler Lester McCumbers, interviewed by Erynn Marshall
Check out my webpage.
