Pentatonics are super powerful

I’ve been practicing guitar a little more recently and I’ve been listening to some of Guthrie Govan’s music. A lot of it is pentatonic based. Even his fast fusion licks are sometimes based off of the pentatonic scale.

The scale is everywhere.

If you’re not familiar with what a pentatonic scale is, it’s a 5 note scale that has the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th scale degrees of a major scale. So if we take a C major scale – C D E F G A B C – and we take only scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 we get a C major pentatonic scale – C D E G A. That’s it. Five notes. Another common note to be heard in this is Eb, which people call the “blue note” because it’s used in a lot of blues music.

Lots of melodies and solos are based off of the pentatonic scale. For example, “If I Can’t Have You” by Shawn Mendes uses it. So does “Going Home” the traditional indigenous song. And tons of rock songs are based off of the pentatonic scale.

If you’re practicing soloing on either piano or guitar don’t overlook how powerful the pentatonic scale can be.

ISJ