Theory Of The Month

More pentatonic goodness unearthed with the great Nik Preston

Pentatonic expertise unpacked by the great Nik Preston

Welcome back! Leading on from our last column on applying major pentatonic scales, this month we’re looking at major pentatonic application over both major and minor II, V, I sequences. Ready? Let’s go!

We’re only looking at examples in the key of C major and C minor for now, but as always, if it’s a sound and a concept you like, practise it through the keys. Moving around the cycle of fourths is often a good way to ensure you spend a significant amount of time on each key – and be sure to ultimately apply it to a tune, as it’s all about applying the content to the context.

Just to recap, our more conventional major pentatonic choices over the relevant chords are shown below. Example 1 shows some phrases using major pentatonics exclusively over a major II, V, I sequence (Dmin7, G7 alt, Cmaj 7), while Example 2 shows a Minor II, V, I (Dmin7b5, G7alt, Cmin/maj7).

We’re using altered dominant chords in both examples, as they have more potential pentatonic scales options than other types of dominant. They also provide the most dissonance, so we’ll need to take some time to become familiar with them. Remember that resolving dominant chords – as in the case of V to I – provides a lot of options with regards to which modes we choose to employ, and altered is just one choice.

You’re probably all familiar with this approach by now: practise applying a harmonic/ melodic or rhythmic concept to a chord type, but eventually to a chord progression and then to a complete tune. Our favouritesounding musical approaches

“OUR FAVOURITE-SOUNDING MUSICAL APPROACHES ARE ONLY TRULY APPLICABLE IF WE’RE PRACTISING OUR SENSE OF FORM”

are only truly applicable if we’re practising our sense of form, and that only develops if we’re practising and performing tunes in their entirety.

Practise hard, but be sure to never lose sight of the context. See you on the other side!