Major Pentatonic Scales

The Major Pentatonic Scale has 5 pitches (when you go up, the last note is the same as the first, only it’s an octave higher). If you start with your Major Scale, the Major Pentatonic consists of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th pitches. We skip over the 4th and 7th pitches.

Example-

Major Scale-

C D E F G A B C

Major Pentatonic Scale- (we skip over the F and the B, which are the 4th and 7th pitches of the major scale)

C D E G A C

Enharmonics work exactly as they do with major scale, so the B scale will sound the same as the Cb scale.

In all examples, if a Low B occurs, it’s written in 7th and if Low C occurs, it’s written in 6th. If you have an F-attachment, or trigger, the B can be played in Trigger-2nd and the C can be played in Trigger-1st.

C

F

Bb

Eb

Ab

Db

Gb

B

E

A

D

G