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+--- Thread: Interesting harmonies from the minor pentatonic scale (/showthread.php?tid=937)
Interesting harmonies from the minor pentatonic scale - Chris Spyratos - 07-27-2020
As a guitarist, I have an inherent relationship with pentatonic shapes. It is one of the fundamental pillars of my view of music and the fact that they can be applied to many genres of music makes them a most valuable tool.
However the reason behind this thought, was me fiddling with a keyboard and a synth, trying to find some cohesion between all these cool sus type chords that dominate genres such as retrowave, space disco and stuff like that as well as some of the 80s soul music (there is a heavy 80s vibe with these and I think I'm beginning to see a connection but's let's not go there yet).
The main concept is to construct chords based on the scale, keeping the same intervals with respect to the pentatonic nature of the scale.
To build the first triad we take the 1st, the 2nd and the 4th notes of the scale. Conventional interval naming and qualities do not apply here so just observe the distances between the notes. The first triad will be "a c e". Next we take the 2nd, 3rd and 5th notes and we get "c d g". We proceed this way until we complete the cycle of the 5 available chords.
Also we need to have the root of the scale sounding as a drone.
So with A in the bass we get these chord qualities:
a c e = Am
c d g = Am7sus2
d e a = Asus4
e g c = Am7
g a d = A7no3rdno5thadd11
All these chords are essentially substitutions for an Am chord (the supplementary minor 7th and the natural 11th are harmless in most cases) so you can use them in a situation where the same chord goes on for many measures to add some movement without disrupting the harmony.
Also they can be used to harmonize melodies that are based on the minor pentatonic scale in a block chord manner.
RE: Interesting harmonies from the minor pentatonic scale - Michael Willis - 07-27-2020
(07-27-2020, 01:23 PM)Chris Spyratos Wrote: g a d = Amnot even sure how to name this cool thing
Seems like this is either Gsus2/A or Dsus4/A. Honestly I'm not sure what the difference is between the two, they just seem like different ways of looking at the same chord.
RE: Interesting harmonies from the minor pentatonic scale - Chris Spyratos - 07-31-2020
(07-27-2020, 03:17 PM)Michael Willis Wrote:(07-27-2020, 01:23 PM)Chris Spyratos Wrote: g a d = Amnot even sure how to name this cool thing
Seems like this is either Gsus2/A or Dsus4/A. Honestly I'm not sure what the difference is between the two, they just seem like different ways of looking at the same chord.
Yeah, it depends on the context so just for the sake of keeping the A as a reference and a bass note I shall go the pedantic way and name it as A7no3rdno5thadd11. The point anyway is not to create actual chords but rather show how these types of harmonies are related to the pentatonic scale.
RE: Interesting harmonies from the minor pentatonic scale - Terry93D - 07-31-2020
You said A is in the bass, so I'm gonna guess it's built A - D - G. In which case I'd just call it A quartal.