What is this pentatonic scale called?
I have been enjoying a wonderful scale recently, but I am unable to find its ‘proper name’ anywhere.
It’s essentially a minor pentatonic with a major 3rd in place of the 4th
1 - b3 - 3 - 5 - b7
e.g. C Eb E G Bb
My question is simple: what is this scale called?
EDIT - for clarity, none of these are passing notes and the absence of the 4th is critical to the tonality. There’s as distinct a flavour to the sequence as a modal scale, hence my naming curiosity.
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Not all scales have been given names, at least not commonly-known names.. The main two pentatonics are the Major pent. and the minor pent.
Yours is a bastardisation of the two. Basically, given 12 chromatic notes to choose from, there could be many different 'scales' of five notes invented from them. Most will be not very useful.
I don't know if it has an official name, but it could easily serve as a blues scale, so I'd consider it a variation of the blues pentatonic scale, especially with the added b5.
Blues scale: 1 b3 4 (b5) 5 b7
You're outlining a C7 chord but inserting a "blue" note ahead of the E. I'd consider it a modified arpeggio. You could use it, for example, as the bass riff underneath a blues.
You can also modify other arpeggios similarly.
C-7: C-D-Eb-G-Bb
C6: C-Eb-E-G-A
C-7b5 #1 : C-D-Eb-Gb-Bb
C-7b5 #2 : C-Eb-F-Gb-Bb
Basically, take a seventh chord, and add a non-chord pitch to serve as a "leading-tone" to one of the chord pitches.
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