Originally Posted by: brightersides.liz
... whilst practising the major and minor pentatonic box patterns I couldn't understand why they were exactly the same?[/quote]
It's just an observation I make to help simplify things. Look, there's only one pattern to learn at first for both major & minor pentatonic! :)
But at this stage I'm just trying to get you to see the pattern & get you to play it in order to get your fingers used to those motions.
After you learn the pattern, then you can make music with them. And this is when they will start to sound different: with different applications.
[QUOTE=brightersides.liz]
I know the tutor says that the shapes are exactly the same whilst the scale degrees are different, but surely the major pentatonic scale is going to have a different sound to the minor one?
Right. So, the short answer is: context is everything.
Anything you play, a note, scale pattern, a chord, has it's own unique sound. And even more so when you put it in a musical situation.
Simple example! Play these notes from the first pentatonic box pattern.
|--5-----------------------------------------|
|------8--5----------------------------------|
|--------------7--5--------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------|
Are you playing A minor pentatonic? Or C major pentatonic? It's a trick question! It's could be either. But, you don't know until you put it in a musical situation. Until you put it in context.
So, let's add some context. Play these chords first.
C G C scale notes
|--0---3---0----5---------------------0------|
|--1---0---1--------8---5-------------1------|
|--0---0---0-----------------7---5----0------|
|--2---0---2--------------------------2------|
|--3---2---3--------------------------3------|
|------3-------------------------------------|
Now, it becomes clear you are playing in C major with those chords & it makes the notes of the scale pattern sound happy & major. So you can
hear you are playing notes from the C major pentatonic scale there. Specifically, the scale degrees 6, 5, 3, 2, 1 from the C major scale.
Now, let's change the context by changing the chords (& thus the underlying harmony).
Am Dm Am scale notes
|--0---1---0----5--------------------0--------|
|--1---3---1--------8---5------------1--------|
|--2---2---2-----------------7---5---2--------|
|--2---0---2-------------------------2--------|
|--0-------0-------------------------0--------|
|---------------------------------------------|
Ah ha! Hear the difference? Changing the chords makes those exact same notes take on a sad, minor sound. So, this makes those exact same notes sound like you are playing notes from the A minor pentatonic scale there. Specifically, the scale degrees 1, 7, 5, 4, 3 from the A minor scale.
Again, it's the exact same notes both times! But changing the musical context gives you a reference point in order to be able to hear & think about which scale degrees you are using.
Make sense?
Christopher Schlegel
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