Ground Techniques Scales Chords Theory & Mapping Reading Systems Nucleus

Adding Tones to E minor and G Major Pentatonic

Core Location: Scales

In the previous session, we added a tone to the Em pentatonic to create E Blues. This is one common way to create new scales from known scales...we can add one or more tones to an existing scale to create other types.

The pentatonic is one of the best shell scales for this process. Since it is 'lacking' 2 tones [from any heptatonic type], we can add these 2 in to create other types [modes].

The E minor Pentatonic/G Major Pentatonic [E-G-A-B-D] is a 5 tone scale. Music which is key-based typically uses scales with 7 [heptatonic]. So, let's add two [using scale starting from the E in a general sense]...

+ C and F natural, we get E-F-G-A-B-C-D, which is the key of C Major.
+ C and F♯, we get E-F♯-G-A-B-C-D, which is the key of G Major.
+ C♯ and F♯, we get E-F♯-G-A-B-C♯-D, which is the key of D Major.

One thing this tells us is that Em/G pentatonic works as a scale choice for soloing in C, G, & D, since E-G-A-B-D are common to all of them. It can be viewed this way: on the circle of 5ths, for any 3 adjacent keys, the one in the middle's m/M pentatonic scale can be used for itself and the key on each side of it. These different scale types can be called modes.

+2 E Types

E minor Pentatonic

e minor penattonic in tablature on the 3 2 1 strings

Here's the shell. We are using octave 64 [octave between the 6 & 4 strings].

R- -♭3-4-5- -♭7
We will add 2's & 6's to create minor type modes

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E Phrygian

+ F & C ↓
E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E
E Phrygian
3rd mode of C
E to E using the tones of C Major
R-♭2-♭3-4-5-♭6-♭7

‍

E Aeolian

+ F♯ & C ↓
E-F♯-G-A-B-C-D-E
E Aeolian [Natural minor ↔ Relative minor]
6th mode of G
E to E using the tones of G Major
R-2-♭3-4-5-♭6-♭7

‍

E Dorian

+ F♯ & C♯ ↓
E-F♯-G-A-B-C♯-D-E
E Dorian
2nd mode of D
E to E using the tones of D Major
R-2-♭3-4-5-6-♭7

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+2 G Major Types

When we add tones to G Major Pentatonic, we get different Major type modes. We will add F-C, F♯-C, & F♯-C♯. Each of these 3 hold one of the locations for Major chords in the Major key system. [V, I, IV, in the order below]. There are other possibilities too. We are staying within the derivatives of the Major key system.