{"id":4885,"date":"2023-04-13T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=4885"},"modified":"2023-04-17T21:47:50","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T01:47:50","slug":"pentatonic-scale-music-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/pentatonic-scale-music-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"The pentatonic scale: What it is and how it’s used in music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Illustration: <\/strong>Moe Suliman<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pentatonic scale is a five-note musical scale found across various cultures and genres.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While our perhaps better-known seven-note major and minor scales<\/a> mainly originated in Western cultures, the pentatonic scale is said to have been developed by ancient civilizations across the globe that were yet to come into contact with one another\u2014a testament to how central the scale is to our visceral experience of tonal music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we\u2019ll introduce the major<\/strong> and minor<\/strong> pentatonic scales<\/strong> to those who might be unfamiliar with them, and take a look at how artists spanning a wide array of genres have used pentatonic scales to create some timeless melodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s dive in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is the pentatonic scale?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A central characteristic of the pentatonic scale is that it’s anhemitonic<\/strong>. This sounds complicated, but it means it\u2019s actually a simplified version of the scales that we\u2019re most familiar with. Hemitonic<\/strong> scales such as our standard major scale contain notes that are a semitone<\/strong>, or half step, apart from one another. For example, in the C major scale, the leading tone, B, is a half step below C, and F is also a half step above E. Anhemitonic scales do away with these semitonal intervals\u2014all pitches in the pentatonic scale are either a whole step or minor third apart from one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, let\u2019s take a look at the scales themselves. The A minor and C major pentatonic scales are transcribed below in sheet notation as well as MIDI for less sheet music-minded people<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"pentatonic-scale-a-minor-pentatonic-sheet\"
The A minor pentatonic scale (sheet notation)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"pentatonic-scale-a-minor-pentatonic-MIDI\"
The A minor pentatonic scale (MIDI)<\/p>\n\n\n\n