Unusual pentatonic scale
Sat, 04/16/2022 - 09:57
I came across a balafon tuned as B C# E G A B C#. It sounds as a pentatonic minor scale on E, replacing the 7th by the major 6th.
I was unable to find on the web a name for this scale (degrees 1 3m 4 5 6), which sounds good (and I suspect this balafon has a special temperament, too). Except "northern pentatonic", but this name seems proper to south american flute playing (only context it appears in).
However, it reminds me of the effect of the 6th found on "No Sweat", David's first lesson on the chromatic in 3rd position. So I thought that maybe chromatic players could have a name for it ?
Sat, 04/16/2022 - 12:07
#2
I give up!
Thanks for the quick answer. This is an interesting scale but I will give up finding a name for it...
There's no special name among harmonica players for this scale. On a D chromatic, the draw chord would be E G B C#, so that fits a portion of the scale, with A and D as blow notes.
This might have a special name as an altered pentatonic (i.e., any pentatonic that has one note raised or lowered from the standard major/minor pentatonics) buried somewhere in a scale book (maybe Yusef Lateef's tome) or a dissertaion on Japanese koto playing or something.