07-27-2020, 01:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-31-2020, 11:30 AM by Chris Spyratos.)
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.
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.
I'll follow back! 
