Pentatonic Scales
Lesson 52 from: Music Theory for Electronic ProducersTomas George
Pentatonic Scales
Lesson 52 from: Music Theory for Electronic ProducersTomas George
Lesson Info
52. Pentatonic Scales
Lessons
Introduction
00:58 2Basic Music Theory Terms
08:07 3Keyboard Layout and Octaves
06:19 4Working out Major Scales
08:58 5Perfect 5ths
06:42 63rds - Part 1
08:05 73rds - Part 2
07:39 8Perfect 4ths
04:36Chords and Inversions - Part 1
10:05 10Chords and Inversions - Part 2
09:13 11Chord Progressions - Part 1
10:22 12Chord Progressions - Part 2
08:26 13Inversions
08:53 147th Chords
09:48 15Chord Extensions
08:09 16Suspended Chords
02:40 17The Circle of 5ths
04:30 18Minor Scales
08:09 19Chords in the Natural Minor scale
09:56 20Harmonic and Melodic Minor
09:30 21Write the Chords, then the Melody
09:03 22Write the Melody, then the Chords
18:01 23Arpeggios
08:00 24Writing Bass Parts
11:35 25Writing Bass Riffs and Adapting Melodies
14:10 26Song Analysis - Chords, Part 1
10:17 27Song Analysis - Chords, Part 2
05:58 28Song Analysis - Melody
08:55 29Song Analysis - Arrangement
07:30 30Song 2 Analysis - Arrangement
05:04 31Song 2 Analysis - Chords
08:55 32Song 2 Analysis - Melodies
06:34 33Song 3 Analysis - Chords
11:41 34Song 3 Analysis - Melodies and Arrangement
06:55 35Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 1
10:22 36Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 2
18:47 37Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 3
18:49 38Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 4
08:21 39Create a Song from a Chord Progression - Part 1
08:16 40Create a Song from a Chord Progression - Part 2
08:07 41Create a Song from a Melody - Part 1
07:27 42Create a Song from a Melody - Part 2
09:05 43Modes Intro
04:10 44Ionian
00:43 45Dorian
04:31 46Phrygian
02:09 47Lydian
01:35 48Mixolydian
02:13 49Aeolian
00:39 50Locrian
01:50 51Dorian Mode Example
09:12 52Pentatonic Scales
12:27Lesson Info
Pentatonic Scales
Hi, in this lecture, we're going to be looking at pentatonic scales. So we do have major pentatonic scales and also minor pentatonic scales. So these are different from modes. We don't have modes for pentatonic scales. It's really just a different way of writing riffs or different lines or solo parts with a major or minor scale. It really does have a lot less emotion, but pentatonic scales are great for solos or riffs. So if you want a synth solo or you want to add maybe a guitar solo or that kind of thing, a pentatonic scale can be really, really useful. So it's really popular in blues music cos basically it's really simple to play on the guitar. So it's become very popular in blues. You can also use this in electronic music if you want to have, like I said, a keyboard solo or sim solo, Penta means five. So the Pentatonic scale has five notes instead of seven notes. So for the major pentatonic scale, we leave out the fourth and also the seventh. So if we take a regular core progressio...
n, we can just play the notes and the pentatonic scale over this regular major core progression. So all we have to do is take out the fourth and the seventh. So let's go into Ableton Live. Now, I've got a drum beat here and let's just write in core progression. So let's try, just gonna add in a few notes. Now we're gonna make, let's start with C major. So we have ce G and then let's have a minor. So ce different inversion. So it's a and now we just have these two gods. OK. Let's try an F and also a G. So an F with inversion, we can use AC an F and A A and the last one is a G which is the fifth. So we start with ad I'm using inversions here. A G and also a bay. So it was CAFG. So I'm gonna add in a baseline C FA NG. So go down to a minor. So the base that will be a and then let's just add in an F and also a G really simple. Add a few extra notes in this. Cos it is a bit boring, just a few passing tones in. So I just mixed it up, added a few extra notes. Um I just wrote a few passing turns, just some notes in the scale, change the sleep. And now we can just add in a riff and remember to make it a Pentatonic scale, we have to have five notes instead of seven. That's basically it. So for a major pentatonic scale. We just have to leave out the fourth and the seventh. So in C major, the fourth is CD, ef, the seventh is CD efgab. So no F and no B and that's basically it. So let's add in a F and just leave out the F and the B and that's, yeah, that's it really. So, it's quite simple to do. Let's just add in really simple ref it's like I said, this is great for solo's refs and you can pretty much just put any note you want. So let's start off with the C and let's just add a few more notes in. So no F and uh no, B just put this down octave. OK? So I can't use the F, this has to be in the case. So let's try, say they E and go up to G, hold it on. G we got to an A remember. No F cos I don't want the fourth and no beer as well. No F so G, so let's say this. All I've already done is just quickly throw this in and because of the Pentatonic scale, it will fit, this isn't the most exciting part in the world, but it works. So we could just copy this first bit over again and a slight change. A second time. I wanna do some really fast paced reps that you might hear in a lot of kind of heavy metal blues rock. I can do this here just using the pen scale. So no, b which is the seventh and no f which is the fourth. So we can do some big jumps, big leaps. Let's just see if this works. I just gonna change the keyboard sound a little bit because this one's a little kind of hard to hear. So just go to a different lead. So if you want to put fast paced riffs, I think this is best for really rather than slow melodic riffs, which is why it's really popular in blues. It doesn't have much emotion a lot of the time because it's so fast. But it's useful if you want to create some fast runs. So can is that b so it can really go to the extreme, just add in a load of notes, really just want some crazy fast pace thing. Find some space, find the notes that fit, like I said, Penta is five. So all you really need to remember it's five notes. So in a major scale, don't use the fourth, don't use the seventh. That's pretty much it. This use of a non western music as well. I know a lot of Chinese music uses pentatonic scales. Pentatonic scales have been around for very, very long time. So it's not something new, just avoid certain notes and just sort of, I, I did a blue note there you might have heard. So it's just g sharp to g so you don't have to necessarily stick to the rules all the time. Cos in blues, they do a lot of bends on the guitar. So I'm just kind of trying to simulate that. That's basically it. So that is major Pentatonic and how you can use it in a song. Like I said, it is normally on a guitar, but you can do this with a central keyboard and all you have to do is remember to leave out the fourth and the seventh. So yeah, just take a regular chord progression, play the notes in the major scale for the chords and then riff over with the pentatonic scales. So yeah, it really is hard to play a bad note cos all these notes fit perfectly, which is why it's so popular on the guitar. Sometimes a lot of guitarists don't necessarily always know what they're playing. But if you're just playing on the guitar and shredded through riffs, you can't really play a bad note. Let's have a look at the minor pentatonic scale now. So this is kind of the same, but you live out the second and the sixth. So the major, live out the fourth and the seventh and the minor, live out the second and the sixth. That's kind of it really. So you just have to put some chords in, in the minor progression and it is more common than the major progression. I think this is because on the guitar, the minor penty scale is actually easier to play than the major penty scale. So it's become more popular in a lot of blues and pop music. But there's no reason why you can't use this in electronic music too. So just remember to leave out the second and the sixth and just play it over a minor key. So let's go back into able to life and just remember to leave at the second and the sixth to make it Penta five notes. So let's stick with this key, which is a minor if we use the relative minor because at the moment it's in C major, I'm just gonna change a few of these cords around. So let's start off with a minor second one. I'm gonna use the uh F major and then I'm going to use GG major and then just repeat the G at the end. It's really, really simple. So all we've got here is a minor F major, G major, really, really simple. So A iaf and G so I'm just gonna change the base notes. This isn't the most exciting part in the world in terms of the base, but it fits, I leave that a third there just for a bit of flavor. And then she at the end leave that as a passing note and this is kind of the baseline. So all we have to do, just remember to leave at the second and the sixth and then we can play. Yeah, this really easy. So the second A minor is the B and the six. So we've got ABC DEF is F as well. If you think about it, the second and the six is the same as the seventh and the fourth in the major scale, which just the different orders because in the minor scale play differently. So all we have to do is leave out the B and the F which having a look at the riff before what we did, we left out the B and the F. So this is the drum beat here, having a look at the rest, we left out the B and the F. So this fits as well. Obviously, the cores are different. This gives a different kind of feeling now because it's more ma uh more minor than major. Because before we started on the major chord, now we're starting on the minor chord. It gives different feelings, different flavors, but it's effectively the same thing. So all you have to remember in Pentatonic Penta means five. In the minor scale, you leave out the second and the sixth and in the major scale, you leave out the fourth and the seventh and that's pretty much it. So like I said, the minor to pence type scale is more commonly used and all you have to do is play it over a minor key. So it's really, really common in blues music and that's pretty much what the Pentatonic scale is like I said, I wouldn't necessarily use it apart from a solo section, a solo section where you wanna be fast and powerful or on a keyboard, fast and powerful, rather than showing a lot of emotion, it could be really useful if you want quick refs, quick runs. Pentatonic scale will really help you with that. So thank you for watching this lecture all about pentatonic scales.
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