major pentatonic scale melodies
The idea of this page is simply to give the reader a sense of the emotional qualities of the major pentatonic color by including a few classic American melodies created with this grouping of pitches. Here is an old time pentatonic melody I learned when I was a kid. Here is the first line of "Shortnin Bread" which actually makes a fun and recognizable blues head with a few alterations. I think it's from the 19th century, definitely has the carefree joy of the major pentatonic color all over it. Example 1.
This next melody created from the major pentatonic grouping of pitches is an old gospel tune titled "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Sound familiar? Example 2.
Click here for the major pentatonic color created from each of the 12 pitches of the chromatic scale, organized around the cycle of fourths. Also, try applying the intervalic studies associated with the major scale group to the pentatonic color.
This next idea is still popular today and never seems to fail to bring a smile when I hear it. Sweet Georgia Brown first published in 1925. Example 3.
This last idea continues on to include additional pitches from various sources and is not a purely pentatonic melody in it's entirety. There are lots of lines that do this, set the initial tone of the composition with the pentatonic color then move to other colors to enhance and contrast the opening idea. The historical origins of the pentatonic group of pitches goes back thousands of years. It is interesting and I think significant that the two pitches added to the pentatonic group to create the major scale are related to the tritone interval. As you will sometime see, adding the "tritone dissonance" to the minor pentatonic color also creates the blues scale, which is really gets to the roots of our American music. So is it possible that it is the addition of the tritone color to both the major and minor pentatonic colors that has allowed for two great musical systems to emerge? The major scale creates European or "western", equal tempered harmony. The American music, blues, jazz, rock, country, pop and even some folk music combine western harmony with ideas drawn from the "blues well" located in the U.S.A. to tell their story. So, where did the tritone come from?
Performance exercise. Here is a little "ditty" using one melodic idea created from the major pentatonic color woven together through the cycle of fourths to exercise the color through the 12 major pentatonic tonal centers. This sequencing of the line is simply backed by major chords. Example 3.
Hearing the major pentatonic color in G sounds so common, thanks to the six stringed guitar I guess. Well, can you play them all? More "grist for the mill eh?" Do we ever need them all? No not really. Just can't think of any tunes that use all 12 major pentatonic scales. Do you know one? Please let me know! So, why do we need all 12 groups under our fingers? Well, mainly for jazz artists in that in creating improvised musical dialogue, so often we need to "borrow" just a wee bit of say Gb major pentatonic as we approach the common key center of F major. Try it, it's just one cool way among many to get there. Another common jazz lick is to simply move one idea up or down chromatically, which is facilitated by having the 12 groups under the fingers. So again, rarely if ever do we need them all in one tune, but so often borrow bits and pieces of the 12 possibilities to enhance the tension and release dynamic with the tonal center of the music we are creating. Cool with this?
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Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who new me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where i thought a flower would grow. Abraham Lincoln
