Module 9: Scales and modesLesson 6advanced⏱ 90 min + three weeks of drills

Pentatonics and superimposition

Major and minor pentatonic positions, which pentatonic to superimpose on each chord type for a specific set of tensions, the pentatonics that fit an altered dominant, and the wide-interval sound that results.

Why pentatonics come last, not first

Most guitarists learn the minor pentatonic before anything else and then spend years trying to stop sounding like it. This lesson turns that history into an asset. A pentatonic scale is five notes with no half steps, which means no avoid notes and no leading tones; it has nothing in it that demands resolution. Played over its own chord it is bluesy and plain. Played over a different chord, chosen so that its five notes land on the tensions you want, it becomes one of the most modern sounds in jazz: wide intervals, no scale-wise running, a floating relationship to the harmony. That technique is superimposition, and it is how pentatonics appear in post-1960 playing from Coltrane's quartet onward. The shapes you already own become a palette of colours; the only new work is knowing which shape to put where.

The two pentatonics and their relatives

Major pentatonic is 1 2 3 5 6: the major scale without its two half-step-makers, the 4 and the 7. Minor pentatonic is 1 b3 4 5 b7: the natural minor scale without the 2 and the b6. They are the same set of notes a minor 3rd apart, exactly as major and relative minor are: C major pentatonic and A minor pentatonic share five notes, so every fingering you know for one is a fingering for the other. The blues scales from the blues module are each pentatonic plus one chromatic note; this lesson uses the pure five-note forms, because the superimposition arithmetic only works without the extra note.

Positions

Minor pentatonic has five positions that tile the neck, one starting on each of its five notes. The whole-neck map shows them all; the two windows below it are the two you will use most, the position with the root under the first finger on the 6th string and the one two frets higher.

\tempo 100
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.6 8.6 5.5 7.5 5.4 7.4 5.3 7.3 | 5.2 8.2 5.1 8.1 5.1 8.2 5.2 7.3 | 5.3 7.4 5.4 7.5 5.5 8.6 :4 5.6 | :8 7.4 10.4 7.3 9.3 8.2 10.2 8.1 10.1 | 8.1 10.2 8.2 9.3 7.3 10.4 7.4 10.5 | :4 7.5 :8 10.5 7.5 :2 7.4 |

Relabel the position V shape from its C and you have C major pentatonic, shown here in position VIII so you can see the major-pentatonic layout with its own root under the first finger.

Superimposition: the arithmetic

Superimposing a pentatonic means choosing one whose five notes are all chord tones or available tensions of the chord you are on. Because a pentatonic has no half steps, if its notes are "in", they are in without avoid-note problems; the question is only which five notes you want. Here is the logic for each chord type, with the resulting degrees. The chord dictionary rows below confirm that each pentatonic's notes sit inside the extended chord.

Read the table as a set of recipes, then prove each one in the examples that follow. The point of the "from the chord's 3rd" row for maj7 is the one the module introduction promised: E minor pentatonic over Cmaj7 gives 3, 5, 13, 7 and 9, which is the sound of a Cmaj13 voicing with the root left to the bass player.

Pentatonics over major and minor chords

Minor pentatonic from the 3rd of a maj7

The custom map labels E minor pentatonic in position XII with its degrees relative to Cmaj7; the engine has checked that every dot is a chord tone or available tension of Cmaj13.

\tempo 120
.
\ts 4 4
:8 12.6{ch "Cmaj7"} 15.6 12.5 14.5 12.4 14.4 12.3 14.3 | 12.2 15.2 12.1 15.1 12.1 15.2 12.2 14.3 | :4 12.3 :8 14.4 12.4 :2 14.5 | :8 12.5 12.4 14.4 12.3 :2 12.4 |

Play this over a Cmaj7 and then over an Am7, which shares the same notes: the same line is "upper structure" on the first chord and "plain" on the second. That double identity is why pentatonic superimposition is so efficient: one shape, several colours, decided by what the bass is playing.

Minor pentatonic from the 5th of a dominant

D minor pentatonic over G7 is exactly the notes of G9sus4, so the engine can check it as chord tones. It is the modern "sus" dominant sound: no 3rd, a 9 and an 11, and it resolves beautifully into the 3rd of the next chord when you want it to.

\tempo 126
.
\ts 4 4
:8 10.6{ch "G9sus4"} 13.6 10.5 12.5 10.4 12.4 10.3 12.3 | 10.2 13.2 10.1 13.1 10.1 13.2 10.2 12.3 | :4 10.3 :8 12.4 10.4 :2 12.5 | :8 10.4 12.4 10.3 10.2 :2 12.3 |

Pentatonics over the altered dominant

The altered scale from the melodic-minor lesson contains two pentatonics that are worth more than the whole scale, because each takes a five-note subset of the altered sound and makes it playable with familiar shapes.

Minor pentatonic from the #9

Bb minor pentatonic over G7alt gives #9, #11, b13, b7 and b9: every altered tension and nothing else, no root, no 3rd. It is the same set of notes as Db major pentatonic, the major pentatonic built on the tritone substitute, which is a second way to remember it. The engine confirms that all five notes lie in the G altered scale.

\tempo 132
.
\ts 4 4
:8 6.6{ch "G7alt"} 9.6 6.5 8.5 6.4 8.4 6.3 8.3 | 6.2 9.2 6.1 9.1 6.1 9.2 6.2 8.3 | :4 7.3{ch "Cmaj9"} :2 9.3 :4 r |

The b6 pentatonic from the b13

A pentatonic b6 is a major pentatonic with its 6th lowered: 1 2 3 5 b6. It is not in the engine's scale library, so the map below is a custom map, checked note by note against the G altered scale. Built on the b13 of the dominant (Eb over G7), its notes are the b13, b7, root, #9 and 3 of G7alt: a different five-note slice of the altered scale, this time with the root and 3rd, so it sounds more anchored than the Bb minor pentatonic and resolves naturally to a minor tonic.

\tempo 126
.
\ts 4 4
:8 6.5{ch "G7alt"} 3.4 5.4 3.3 4.3 3.3 5.4 3.4 | 4.2 6.2 3.1 6.1 3.1 6.2 4.2 4.3 | :4 5.3{ch "Cm6/9"} :8 4.2 3.2 :2 5.4 |

Use the Bb minor pentatonic when the band is playing an altered voicing and you want maximum tension; use the Eb pentatonic b6 when you want the altered colour but a line that still outlines the dominant chord. Both resolve well to C major and to C minor.

The intervallic sound

A pentatonic has two sizes of step, a whole step and a minor 3rd, and when you skip notes you get 4ths and 5ths more often than 3rds. That is the source of the "intervallic" sound: lines built from stacked 4ths, from wide leaps between pentatonic notes, and from patterns of four or five notes that cross the strings rather than run along them. The line below superimposes A minor pentatonic on Dm7 (5, b7, root, 9 and 11: the Dm11 sound) and plays it almost entirely in 4ths across the strings.

\tempo 120
.
\ts 4 4
:8 5.6{ch "Dm7"} 5.5 5.4 5.3 7.5 7.4 7.3 5.2 | 8.2 5.1 8.1 5.1 8.2 5.2 7.3 7.4 | :4 5.3 7.4 :8 5.4 7.5 :4 5.5 | :8 7.5 5.4 7.4 5.3 :2 7.3 |

The right-hand technique for this is string skipping and strict alternate or hybrid picking; see articulation and phrasing for the legato options. The left hand stays in one position; the width comes from the string crossing, not from moving up the neck.

Putting it on a progression

Over a ii–V–I in C, one approach is: A minor pentatonic over Dm7 (from the 5th: 5 b7 1 9 11), Bb minor pentatonic over G7alt (every altered tension), E minor pentatonic over Cmaj7 (from the 3rd: 3 5 13 7 9). Three shapes, each a familiar box, each producing a specific and modern set of tensions, and the three roots (A, Bb, E) have nothing to do with the three chord roots. That disconnection is the sound. Practise it slowly enough to hear each pentatonic against its chord rather than as a scale in its own right; once the ear has the relationship, the hands already know the shapes.

Exercises

1. Five positions. Play A minor pentatonic in all five positions, two notes per string, 100 bpm. Then relabel each as C major pentatonic from its C.
2. Recipe check. For each row of the superimposition table, play the chord as an arpeggio, then the pentatonic over it, and name the degree of each pentatonic note as you play it.
3. Three boxes on a ii–V–I. The A, Bb and E minor pentatonic plan above in C, then transposed to F, Bb and G. Scale only first, then lines.
4. Altered pentatonics. Over a G7alt loop, alternate four bars of Bb minor pentatonic with four bars of Eb pentatonic b6. Listen for the root and 3rd appearing and disappearing.
5. 4ths only. Over any single chord with a pentatonic you have chosen, improvise using only intervals of a 4th or wider for two minutes. Then allow one step per bar.

Quiz