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GMC Forum _ CHILL OUT _ Pentatonic Theory Question
Posted by: Phil66 Oct 25 2014, 05:28 PM
Hello all,
This may seem like an odd question and I don't really know why I want to know 
How was it decided or calculated which five degrees should be in the pentatonic scale?
Cheers
Phil
Posted by: klasaine Oct 25 2014, 05:40 PM
There are many pentatonic scales. Not just the one we guitar players usually play.
Any 5 tones from a scale can be called a pentatonic scale.
For example, this is a really cool penta scale: A Bb D E G
Posted by: Phil66 Oct 25 2014, 05:57 PM
Thank you 
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Oct 25 2014, 07:42 PM
Ken is right - "penta" name comes from scale having 5 notes.
What is interesting though is that some scales, like the pentatonic major and minor ones become embedded into our ears and culture over time. I saw ones a video on youtube with experiment where people would sing the next note in the scale and usually they would get it right. Pentatonic scale sounds natural to us, expected and at some point it might have sounded even dissonant to some people. I think flavour for what is dissonant sounding and what isn't shifts over time among people.
I'm still interested to know more in depth why those 5 notes exactly were chosen for a major pentatonic scale for example.
Never really thought about it in those terms.
Posted by: Phil66 Oct 25 2014, 07:51 PM
Never really thought about it in those terms.
Thanks Bogdan, that's what I was trying to say
Phil
Posted by: PosterBoy Oct 26 2014, 03:18 PM
I'm not sure if it's nature or nuture but it's ingrained in us
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Oct 27 2014, 11:21 AM
Thanks for sharing this - that is the video I was referring to
It is really interesting to see such a live experiment.
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