How did five-note scales become popular in so many music genres and styles?
Pentatonic scales, those beautiful and expressive five-note wonders, take two forms: those with semitones (hemitonic) and those without (anhemitonic). They are used worldwide in nearly every style of music, lurking deep within nature and your brain.
It’s probably a safe bet that most Westerners know the pentatonic scale primarily from blues, rock music, and all their exponents. The pentatonic-infused blues genre created a ripple effect in both the United States and the UK, allowing a cross-pollination of blues interpretations to influence the origins of rock music.
Take a moment and listen to Gary Moore squeeze emotion out of a pentatonic scale, using dazzling dynamics, varied vibrato, judicious bends, and a ton of gain to boot—and on Greeny, no less; the storied Les Paul™ guitar now owned by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett. As one astute commenter notes, “No computers. No sequencers. No digital. No screen idol. Just some Irish geezer offering his heart.”
Most Western music has largely been based on one heptatonic scale, known as the diatonic scale. Still, as a subset of that master scale, pentatonic scales are delightfully useful in riffing and melodies. Pentatonic origins can be traced back to ancient civilizations, evidenced by a widespread and fundamental role in the music of various cultures worldwide.
The scale’s simplicity and versatility have made it a foundational element in developing musical traditions across several continents. The harmonic series probably sits at the foundation of this phenomenon because it most closely outlines the major pentatonic scale. In essence, the scale is inescapable and part of the fabric of reality. Leonard Bernstein knows what’s up and masterfully explains how the harmonic series (AKA overtone series) comes into play in discovering the major triad and the inherent scalar structure within the harmonic series.
Image: The Gibson ES-335 is a perfect instrument for blues, rock, and everything else
How did the blues influence so many other genres?
Originating from African American communities in the Southern United States, the blues found a fertile ground among British guitarists during the 1960s, significantly influencing the evolution of modern rock music. Icons such as Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Peter Green (energetically covered here by Slash) were deeply inspired by American blues artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King, and B.B. King.
The British players of the 60s absorbed and adapted the emotive power, improvisational essence, and distinct guitar techniques of the blues, blending them into the burgeoning rock scene. This UK blues boom revitalized and reinterpreted traditional blues with fresh energy and innovative electric guitar tones, creating a sound that was reverent to its roots yet daringly progressive. As these UK acts gained international fame, their music acted as a conduit, reintroducing American audiences to the blues tradition in a new form—a boomerang effect that, let’s say, had more decibels at the ready.
This transatlantic exchange catalyzed the development of rock music in the United States, laying the groundwork for genres such as hard rock and heavy metal. British guitarists’ reinterpretation of the blues paid homage to its African American originators and ensured its enduring legacy and influence on the global music landscape. Volume never sounded so good.
Two decades later, under the influence of pentatonic scale master Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush and the legacy of the blues, virtuosic players like Marty Friedman would bend notes like a blues player but aim for a different type of inflection in their phrasing, adding an exotic flair to melodic lines and scale choices.
Friedman’s solo work and some of his guitar solos within Dave Mustaine’s Megadeth show how these influences meld together. If you listen hard enough, the pentatonic scale and the blues end up just about everywhere.
In a conversation with Dinesh Lekhraj on the Gibson Gear Guide that veers toward American blues icon Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gibson Brand Ambassador Jared James Nichols says, “Regardless of style, when you hear someone that is dialed into their instrument, dialed into their guitar to a point that it’s an extension of their voice, it’s an extension of their expression; I think that is the ultimate.” Both SRV and JJN prove that you can get an enormous amount of mileage from five-note scales, and Jared continues to use pentatonics to great effect.
Where does the ancient pentatonic scale come from?
As mentioned, the pentatonic scale has roots in African music traditions. African musicians have used pentatonic scales in their songs, instrumental music, and traditional melodies for millennia. This scale plays a crucial role in the music of cultures across the continent, from West African xylophone pieces to Ethiopian vocal and instrumental music.
In East Asia, the pentatonic scale has been central to the music of China, Japan, and Korea for thousands of years. Traditional Chinese music often utilizes the pentatonic scale, with the guqin, a seven-stringed zither, being particularly associated with pentatonic music—another ancient zither, the guzheng, is highly expressive, allowing vibrato and note bends from behind the bridge. Similarly, Japanese and Korean traditional music uses pentatonic scales extensively, lending it a distinctive sound. Phrasing is everything.
The pentatonic scale can also be found in the folk music of many European countries, including Celtic music from Scotland and Ireland, where it has been used in traditional folk songs and melodies. Indeed, those folk songs were fused with the blues in Appalachia and gave birth to bluegrass. The scale’s presence in these traditions shows its adaptability and the ease with which musicians can create melodically rich and resonant music. Eastern Europe is not lacking in evidence of the scale’s power and utility, either.
The pentatonic scale is prominent in Native American music, with various tribes incorporating it into their traditional songs and ceremonial music. The scale’s emotive intervals make it conducive to both Native American vocal and instrumental music.
As a guitarist, what do I need to do next to master the various pentatonic scales?
As much private study into ethnomusicology and music theory as you can muster will pay dividends—pentatonic scales, world rhythms, and beyond. You will experience the joy of new and exciting music and discover how what you already know how to do may be connected with additional possibilities for your work. Grow, grow, grow—that’s the mantra.
The Gibson App can get you started with the most logical shapes to memorize and help you apply melodic ideas to chord progressions that are fundamental to songwriting and arranging. The lessons become more challenging as you advance, but you can move along at your own pace. There’s an entire world of learning opportunities within the Gibson App—beginner, intermediate, and advanced lessons are at your fingertips.
Classical composers love pentatonics, too
Did you know that Béla Bartók was a pioneer in ethnomusicology? In addition to being an important classical composer, he documented melodies and features from Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak, and Bulgarian folk music—many of them pentatonic in nature. It’s a near-certainty he influenced the development of progressive heavy metal, too.
Listen to the angular “big riffs” from the opening movement of his String Quartet No. 5 and his use of bold syncopation and tell me that it doesn’t shred (and here, too). This work was composed in 1934. Compare the features of those passages to Insect by Spiral Architect, released late in 1999. Nothing new under the sun, eh?
If it’s so ubiquitous, how do I make the pentatonic scale sound fresh?
The short answer is to harmonize it in fourths. We don’t have the space here to explore it deeply, but you can play very modern-sounding quartal harmony over pentatonic lines. Jody Fisher has a quick lesson that might be the best place to start, demonstrating the effect—this blew my mind when I found it years ago.
All you need is a looper pedal, and you’re on your way toward getting these sounds into your consciousness. Essentially, it has an unsettled, floating quality. Try it, and you’ll hear it works well with pentatonic melodies.
If those harmonic voicings tickle your ears, spend some time with jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, and it will pay off. Get guitar-specific help by listening to Sandra Sherman on her Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion guitar and Rick Beato, who introduces both quartal and quintal harmony, using classical music as a starting point and moving in other directions. You can also extend the typical fingerings for more fluidity. Never stop learning.
Dive headlong into the Gibson App for lessons on everything from scales to guitar technique, and explore master-of-the-pentatonic scale Joe Bonamassa’s essential advice for guitarists. Explore the world of the Gibson App today and start your free trial on iOS and Android devices.
