PENTATONICS
UNPACK PENTATONICS
Phil Mann guides us into those super‐useful pentatonic scales. Are you ready for the rule of five?
Hello again! It’s fair to say that you don’t need a degree in astrophysics to be able to play a pentatonic scale. The structures are easy to visualize, sonically accessible and also fall very conveniently under the fingertips. However, the one downside of pentatonic scales is also the very reason why we use them—their dissonant tonality is minimal due to the omittance of semitones. In other words, it’s very hard to play anything that sounds bad, as all the notes are good ones.
Still, some tension is a good thing, as it evokes resolution. The question arises: If we want to use pentatonic scales for all of the aforementioned reasons, while also wishing to sound a little more profound in our melodic interpretation, is there a way that we can get the best of both worlds? You bet your bottom dollar there is.