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Major pentatonic scale
The major pentatonic scale is the major scale without the 4th and 7th: five notes, nothing clashes. Every key in a table, piano and guitar, played, MIDI to take.
Mika plays the major pentatonic scale up and back down. No improvising.Tap Hear it, or tap any note on the board.
C D E G A
The notes of the C major pentatonic scale
C D E G A
Formula: 1 2 3 5 6. Steps from note to note: 2 2 3 2 3 semitones (whole, whole, one and a half, whole, one and a half).
The C major scale without its 4th and 7th (F and B): no half steps left, so no note clashes. The same five notes are the A minor pentatonic scale.
The major pentatonic scale in all twelve keys
| Root | Notes |
|---|---|
| C | C D E G A |
| D♭ | D♭ E♭ F A♭ B♭ |
| D | D E F♯ A B |
| E♭ | E♭ F G B♭ C |
| E | E F♯ G♯ B C♯ |
| F | F G A C D |
| F♯ | F♯ G♯ A♯ C♯ D♯ |
| G | G A B D E |
| A♭ | A♭ B♭ C E♭ F |
| A | A B C♯ E F♯ |
| B♭ | B♭ C D F G |
| B | B C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯ |
The happy pentatonic
Major pentatonic is the sound of country licks, of "My Girl" and of a lot of children's songs. Leaving out the 4th and the 7th removes both half steps of the major scale, so every note sits well over the major chord. It shares its notes with the minor pentatonic three half steps lower: C major pentatonic is A minor pentatonic with a different home.
More scales
Major pentatonic scale on guitar C major pentatonic scale A major pentatonic scale E major pentatonic scale G major pentatonic scale D major pentatonic scale
How this page works
Hear it plays the scale up and down at 100 BPM on one of four Brumm sounds. Take it gives the same notes as a MIDI file and a WAV. − and + move the root. Every note here is computed from the formula.
Sources
Scales and modes: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Piano fingerings: the standard scale-book fingerings (ABRSM scale books; Hanon, The Virtuoso Pianist, part 3). Trumpet valves: the standard B♭ trumpet fingering chart (Yamaha, Bach). Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.
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