- Hi! I'm Elijah Fox,
pianist, producer, and songwriter
and I aim to inspire other people
to find joy by playing the piano.
Join me in this beginner piano tutorial.
All you'll need is a keyboard piano to get started.
(invigorating music)
In this lesson, we're going to look at the pentatonic scale
and how it can be used for improvisation
and creating effective melody
that can work over a chord progression
or accompaniment pattern.
The pentatonic scale is derived from the major scale,
which you should already be familiar with.
In this case, we're going to start by looking
at the C pentatonic scale, which is a five note scale.
The C pentatonic scale includes the notes C, D, E, G, and A.
Or in other words, the first, second, third,
fifth, and sixth degrees of the C major scale.
It can also be thought of as the C major scale
minus the F and the B, or the fourth and seventh degree.
The pentatonic scale is an excellent scale for improvising
or when choosing notes for a great melody.
To start, let's practice the pentatonic scale
moving upwards with our right hand.
We'll start with the fingerings of 1, 2, 3,
then crossing under to 1, 2,
crossing under again to C,
1, 2, 3, then crossing under again to G.
So we've got C, D, E, G, A, C, D, E.
And coming back down, we'll start on C.
(piano playing)
This fingering is a little bit tricky
so I'll go over it once more.
We start with 1, 2, 3, then 1, 2,
then 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3,
and then back down 2, 1, 2, 1,
3, 2, 1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1.
So any of the notes from the pentatonic scale
will sound great over a chord progression
in that corresponding key.
So if we're coming up with a chord progression in C major,
for example, F major, E minor, D minor.
These are all cords that come out
of the C major chordal scale.
We can use this pentatonic scale to improvise over it.
I'll demonstrate a short example.
(piano playing)
I can go on and on, but let's now take a pattern
with this scale.
So we can start by practicing the pentatonic scale
in groupings of three, four, and five.
For the groupings of three, we'll start with our thumb
on C and we'll go C, D, E, D, E, G,
E, G, A, G, A, C, A, C, D and so on.
So let's try that of that.
(piano playing)
And back down, we would have,
(piano playing)
Practicing in these patterns can help us
when we're improvising,
because then we have extra ways of moving
and we don't just move in the scale
and we end up being less likely to get stuck
or run out of ideas.
These patterns can also be used as a great vehicle
for soloing or when composing
or using as a fill to play between chords.
Now, let's look at the grouping of four notes.
So we'll start on C and we'll move up.
We're playing C, D, E, G,
D, E, G, A,
E, G, A, C,
G, A, C, D,
A, C, D, E.
So let's try that again.
(piano playing)
And we can also go back down
so that would be,
(piano playing)
Now that we've got those patterns
of three and four, I'll try inserting some
into the chord progression I was playing
to use as improvisational fills.
(piano playing)
This is a pattern of three.
Now a pattern of four.
(piano playing)
Three again.
(piano playing)
Four.
(piano playing)
So we can use those patterns when we're soloing
or as little fills to fill in the gaps
between the chords we're playing.
Now, I've practiced these a lot
and have gotten them up by using a metronome
to a faster tempo where I'm able to play them fluidly.
It's important to start slowly and not beat yourself up
if you have trouble playing these at first.
Now I'm going to demonstrate those same phrases,
but a little bit more slowly.
(piano playing)
All of these phrases are all coming
out of this pentatonic scale,
which is a five note scale.
For the next exercise,
I like to practice it in the patterns of five.
So we'll start on C and we'll go up using all five fingers.
C, D, E, G, A,
D, E, G, A, C,
E, G, A, C, D, and so on.
(piano playing)
Now we'll demonstrate some patterns of five
over the same progression.
(piano playing)
You may notice as you're using the pentatonic scale to solo
that you can predict how it's going to sound
before you're playing.
And this is one of the essential parts of improvisation.
When improvising, you want to get to a place
where you can almost predict how it's going to sound
as you're playing
and so your hand can be thought
of as an extension of your mind
or a melody that you would sing.
Now, I'm going to play the same chordal progression
and I'd like you to try improvising
using the notes in the C pentatonic scale,
C, D, E, G, and A.
You can also try using some of these patterns
of three, four, and five
to create a spontaneous melody with your improvisation.
Remember, there's no right or wrong melody.
And as long as you're playing the notes
of the C pentatonic scale, you're off to a great start.
Here we go.
(piano playing)
Excellent job.
Another great way to practice improvising
is you can record yourself playing
the accompaniment patterns or chord progressions,
and then play over it by soloing using the pentatonic scale.
Anytime you're learning a new song,
you can find what key this song is in,
take the major scale, and then find the pentatonic scale
by playing the first, second, third,
fifth, and sixth scale degree.
You can also get comfortable
by playing these patterns of three, four, and five
that I've demonstrated in additional keys
to get more fluid with the pentatonic scale in every key.
So anytime you've got a new song,
you can find out what key it's in,
find the major scale of that key,
and then play the first, second, third,
fifth, and sixth degree to find the pentatonic scale.
You can also move through the patterns
of three, four, and five in the pentatonic scale
in those corresponding keys
to get more familiar with it across the piano.
To recap, in this lesson,
we looked at the pentatonic scale
which is the first, second, third, fifth, and six degrees
of the major scale and how you can use this as a vessel
for improvising or coming up with your own melodies.
A lot of times when coming up with melodies,
a great place to start can be by free styling
or improvising, finding a melody you like and refining it
and eventually making it secure.
In the next lesson,
we're going to be looking at a technique
to come up with repeated note phrases or runs,
which can be excellent vehicles
for improvisation or composing.
(invigorating music)
Thanks for tuning in.
And if you'd like to check out more,
I have five piano classes now available on Skillshare.
This learning path will take you from a beginner
to someone who's able to improvise,
sight read music, and compose their own songs.
Click the link below to join me on Skillshare.
(invigorating music)
- [Narrator] Thanks for watching.
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