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The Songwriters Workshop:
Melody
Jimmy Kachulis
Lesson 34
Major Pentatonic on One Chord

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LESSON 34
Major Pentatonic on One Chord
The major pentatonic scale is one of the most common scales in music, and it is an
easy source of melodic material. Its used in all styles of songwriting. The major
pentatonic scale has five notes. You can create melodies in this scale without being
bound to the chord changes.
Hit songs that use the major pentatonic scale include My Girl, Aint Too Proud to
Beg, I Still Havent Found What Im Lookin For, The Way You Do The Things
You Do, Chattahoochee, Thats the Thing About Love, I Saw the Light, and
many others.

Listen
Listen to the first part of Major Pentatonic: Shakes Me From my Head (CD 60)
Notice that this scale is like a C arpeggio with an added D and A.

60

Chord

&

ww
ww

Arpeggio

w
w
w
w
C

w
w
w
w

Scale Descending

Scale Ascending

w w
w w
A

Listen again, and sing along with the recording to get the sound of the scale in your
ears. Then try to sing the scale without the recording. Youre already training your ear
and voice to feel the major pentatonic scale.

91

Now, listen to the whole track. The second part has a lyric set to typical major pentatonic phrases over a one-chord groove.

C6

Chord
Tones

& 44

&

Shakes

me

from

my

head

&

way

down

to

toes

my

me

from

my

head

way

down

to

my

toes

Shakes

me

from

my

head

Shakes

me

from

my

head

Shakes

&

way

way

down

to

my

to

my

down

toes

toes

Listen again, and sing along with the recording. Try to sing these phrases without the
track. Youre training your ear to hear even more. Notice that this scale has an almost
folksy or down-home feel to it. Its frequently used over extended one-chord
grooves in a major key.

92

L E S S O N 3 4 Major Pentatonic on One Chord

Writing Exercises
61

Sing the following exercises along with Rhythm Track 25: Shakes Me (CD 61) or
to your original track that uses one chord.

Practice
60

Reset the lyrics Shakes me from my head way down to my toes in three different
ways. Use notes only of the pentatonic scale. Refer back to Major Pentatonic: Shakes
Me (CD 60) to review the notes.

Set Your Own Lyrics

Create an original lyric and set it using only notes of the major pentatonic scale.

Rewrite the Hits

1. From the songs you know, find an example of a melody that uses the major
pentatonic scale over one note.
2. Create your own major pentatonic setting of that lyric.

Write a Song
Create a song where the verse uses the major pentatonic scale over one chord and
the chorus uses a different approach.

L E S S O N 3 4 Major Pentatonic on One Chord

93

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