Pentatonic with an extra note is a hexatonic scale, which makes me think of another important unnamed bluegrass scale. I got it from a Darol Anger video… he called it the “fiddle tune scale”, and it’s different when ascending vs descending. When ascending, it’s a major scale with no fourth; when descending, it’s a major scale with no seventh. It pops up in all sorts of fiddle tunes! A good place to notice it is the last two bars of the A section of Salt Creek. The pickup to the last two bars descends 5-4-3, then ascends 3-5-6-7-1, then descends 1-6-5-4-3-1-1, skipping the fourth on the way up and the seventh on the way down. More broadly, hexatonic and octatonic scales are REALLY important because they get scalar octave runs to line up musically with the bar lines. Play a diatonic scale (major or minor) in eighth notes, from the downbeat of one bar to the downbeat of the next bar. You don’t land on the octave - you land on the second, a sad and despondent place (unless you’re changing to the V chord!). So this unnamed scale you’re talking about is an example of that - adding a minor third spices it up AND makes it an octatonic scale that lines up nicely with the beat for scalar runs! I first encountered this scale a zillion years ago when taking jazz theory lessons. My teacher called it the “bebop scale”.
Perhaps this scale does have a name: I came across it in Michael Hawley's book "Red Hot Country Guitar," where he introduces it as the "Country Composite Scale." He defines it as the major pentatonic with an added flatted third.
Pentatonic with an extra note is a hexatonic scale, which makes me think of another important unnamed bluegrass scale. I got it from a Darol Anger video… he called it the “fiddle tune scale”, and it’s different when ascending vs descending. When ascending, it’s a major scale with no fourth; when descending, it’s a major scale with no seventh. It pops up in all sorts of fiddle tunes! A good place to notice it is the last two bars of the A section of Salt Creek. The pickup to the last two bars descends 5-4-3, then ascends 3-5-6-7-1, then descends 1-6-5-4-3-1-1, skipping the fourth on the way up and the seventh on the way down.
More broadly, hexatonic and octatonic scales are REALLY important because they get scalar octave runs to line up musically with the bar lines. Play a diatonic scale (major or minor) in eighth notes, from the downbeat of one bar to the downbeat of the next bar. You don’t land on the octave - you land on the second, a sad and despondent place (unless you’re changing to the V chord!). So this unnamed scale you’re talking about is an example of that - adding a minor third spices it up AND makes it an octatonic scale that lines up nicely with the beat for scalar runs! I first encountered this scale a zillion years ago when taking jazz theory lessons. My teacher called it the “bebop scale”.
It seems to me to be a theological base all other genres are built upon. You guys are 'out there' in deep water with this discussion.
I had that Happy Traum "Bluegrass Guitar" book when I was a kid! How I learned to play. I learned so much from it.
Perhaps this scale does have a name: I came across it in Michael Hawley's book "Red Hot Country Guitar," where he introduces it as the "Country Composite Scale." He defines it as the major pentatonic with an added flatted third.
You guys are having way too much fun... while dopes like me wonder why I don't know none of that stuff. lol
The thrill is gone! The great BB king
Jaco plays a g run in Teen Town. 😋