Why are the notes and the scale formula of Am Pentatonic scale different? They don’t seem to match.
Everything is with reference to the major scale. All “A” scales will be referenced to A major; All “B” scales to B major, etc. So whatever the root note is, that’s the major scale we create our formulas from, whether it’s natural minor, pentatonics, blues scales or whatever – all formulas use associated major scale notes as the reference.
In the case of A minor pentatonic we will use the A major scale notes to apply our scale formula.
A Major scale notes are:
1: A
2: B
3: C#
4: D
5: E
6: F#
7: G#
Now look at those notes and compare to the A minor pentatonic. The scale formula is 1 b3 4 5 b7. If we flatten the 3rd and 7th in A major we get this…
1: A
2: B
3: C (flattened)
4: D
5: E
6: F#
7: G (flattened)
The minor pentatonic does not use the 2nd or 6th scale degree so we end up with this.
1: A
3: C (flattened)
4: D
5: E
7: G (flattened)
Does that makes sense?
