Introduction to Scales and Soloing on `Ukulele - Minor Pentatonic

I call it Ukulele Doodling! The later great ukulele artist, Lyle Ritz called it The fruit of the noodle. Just like an artist can doodle around and draw whatever he or she fancies, we can do the same on ukulele. Anyone can have hours of fun just doodling around the ukulele – exploring its possibilities.

The Minor Pentatonic Scale

Sometimes called the Major Pentatonic, the pentatonic scale has been the source of more simple melodies than any other scale. Melodies like Camptown Races,Oh! Susanna, Amazing Grace, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause, and Sweet Georgia Brown – just the name a few. Song hooks and licks like My Girl use the pentatonic scale.

What is the Difference Between the Blues Scale and the Minor Pentatonic Scale?

Good question. Really, nothing more than adding a chromatic passing tone between the 3rd (b3) and 4th of the Minor Pentatonic scale, and you have the Blues scale.

The Blues is a synthetic scale and is a subset of either the Aeolian/Natural Minor (1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 8) scale or the Dorian (1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 8) scale, a minor scale. In scale theory scale based on the full diatonic scales such as the Major (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8) or the Natural Minor scale mention here. Use all seven letters (A B C D E F G) in order, with no skips or repeat. And as such the Blues with the added chromatic passing tone doesn't fit the description and is such as a synthetic scale. A great and very popular scale.