Avant Music Inc

07/22/2026

The Macro of Effectively Using the Pentatonic Scale in Soloing and Improvisation

[The scope of this written lesson is limited only to the usage of pentatonic scale. Scales that use more than 5 pitch-classes are outside of the scope, and thus are not discussed, deliberately.]

The pentatonic scale is a subset scale. That is, it's selected scale degrees of complete scales.

THE pentatonic scale, is the major pentatonic scale. It's scale degrees 1,2,3,5,6 of the major scale. Let's take a look.

The C major scale:

C D E F G A B

The C major pentatonic scale:

C D E G A

The C major pentatonic scale is the C major scale without the usage of the F and B pitch-classes.

An even starker feature of it is that it features no half steps, and instead replaces those sounds with two minor 3rd intervals (a 3 half-step gap spelled 3 letters away) when completed at the octave: C D E G A C.

Using the C major pentatonic scale for soloing:

First, a note on using it because the music "is in the key of C". The C major pentatonic scale (and thus all major pentatonic scales) do not feature the leading tone (7th) scale degree of the major scale. The usage of the leading tone is one of the two most effective compositional tools for establishing tonality. This omission of this scale degree gives the major pentatonic scale a more tonally ambiguous quality than the major scale (ionian mode).

Since the pentatonic scale is limited to just 5 pitch-classes, it only has two complete triads that can be constructed:

C major - C E G
A minor - A C E

Coincidentally there's a relative relationship here; when we start the scale from C, we get C major pentatonic. When we start the scale from A we get the A minor pentatonic scale (A C D E G). Only these two modes of the scale qualify because it's from these scale degrees only that complete triads are built naturally from the scale.

Let's look at a diatonic progression with a plagal cadence that I'm pulling from a backing track on YouTube with 4.2M views, meaning, this is what people are playing over!

Chords: C G Am F

Chord tones:
C - C E G
G - G B D
Am - A C E
F - F A C

C major pentatonic scale - C D E G A

Now, we can see that the major pentatonic scale does not feature all of the chord tones for all of the chords of this progression. This is where both, the problem and the opportunity lies.

We're going to look at this through the lens of each harmony, one note at a time.

C - C (chord tone), D (Maj 2nd/9th), E (chord tone), G (chord tone), A (Maj 6th/13th)

G - C (P4th/11th), D (chord tone), E (Maj 6th/13th), G (chord tone), A (Maj 2nd/9th)

Am - C (chord tone), D (P4th/11th), E (chord tone), G (m 7th), A (chord tone)

F - C (chord tone), D (Maj 6th/13th), E (Maj 7th), G (Maj 2nd/9th), A (chord tone)

The problem with using the major pentatonic scale exclusively over this progression is that the scale can only serve two of the chords completely (C and Am). The opportunity is in using the non-chord tones to add to the total harmony and color the sound intentionally. We must be aware of what these intervallic relationships sound and feel like, otherwise, we'll be unpleasantly surprised (source: experience).

The scale only serves G and F with two chord tones. This lack of a 3rd chord tone gives us less options when we want to stay most consonant with these chords.

HOWEVER, there is an adjustment that we can make if we want to keep that gapped quality of the pentatonic scale without adding more notes to the scale. We simply make, what I refer to as, an adjustment:

Take the pitch-class of the pentatonic scale where moving a degree, either up or down, would give us that third chord tone that we want.

For G, this means replacing the C with a B. That makes our scale: B D E G A.

Wait a minute... that's the G MAJOR pentatonic scale! You are correct: G A B D E is 1,2,3,5,6 of the G major scale.

For F, replace E with F. That makes our scale: C D F G A. The F major pentatonic scale: F G A C D.

This works for this progression because the only difference between G and F major scales and the C major scale is a single pitch-class (F # for G major and Bb for F major). This means that they're more alike than different.

Happy playing. 🙂

--- MVD

What lightbulb moments did you have while reading this?

Got a question or a topic that you want me to write about? Comment or DM.

07/13/2026

Here's the macro of soloing:

There are notes that make up the chords. Let's pick a random chord, but we'll keep it restricted to a triad. Let's say it's a F major chord. Now the F major chord only consists of the notes: F, A, C. It consists of no other notes. Just those three.

Now here's where scales come in. Any scale that has the notes F, A, C in it will "sound good" over the chord, especially if we hold and sustain the F, A, or C notes. The other notes of the scale give the music it's "color" or "character" as it's often referred to as.

Here are some scales that feature all 3 notes of F, A, and C:

C major - C D E F G A B
F major - F G A Bb C D E
Bb Major - Bb C D Eb F G A

The more notes that a scale has aren't the notes of the chord, the less of an inside sound that we'll have, hence, we'll have more of an outside one.

Here's a few of those, still relating to the F major chord:

G major - G A B C D E F # (2 of 3 chord tones)
D major - D E F # G A B C # (1 of 3 chord tones)
B major - B C # D # E F # G # A # (0 of 3 chord tones = completely outside sound)

At any given time, a chord doesn't have the capacity to know or care that it's in a key or a mode. It just knows the notes that it consists of. When we play those notes, we're playing inside the chord itself.

A note on playing in a key (diatonicism): the whole idea of a key, most concretely, a major one, is that all of the chords within it can be derived from one, singular scale.

Let's take the primary chords of F major: F, Bb, and C. The I IV V of the key.

F major scale - F G A Bb C D E

Chord tones:
F - F A C
Bb - Bb D F
C - C E G

All three chords can be built from the F major scale, and when in a diatonic progression, such as the above, we simply can stay in the singular scale while playing and holding the chord tones of the chord that's currently sounding in the moment, while ornamenting the chord tones with the rest of the scale.

Of course there's more that we can do than just this, but this is the macro of it.

07/10/2026

First notes from yesterday's scale map post. String quartet accompaniment.

I've already changed some things here, and have orchestrated about 2 more minutes of music since this was documented.

The first notes that we put down, on the page especially, are crucial. For me, it's a test of whether my choices align with the intention of the feeling of what I've curated in my head before notating.

What we are experiencing in this video was all made in one streaming thought. Once I listened back to it, I really liked it, and notated until my brain gave out yesterday. I also taught some lessons which was a welcome reprieve from the constant decision-making process of composition, but kept me still orbiting in the universe of music.

Today is day 2 of writing, and there is much to do. 🎼

07/09/2026

Composing music today. 😌🎵

06/23/2026

06/22/2026

6/22/26 REAL-TIME NOTE NAME GENERATION PROGRAM UPDATE:

Now available to all members:

Fretboard Part 3 - 17 of 124 videos.
Current progress of program - 87 videos + 1 reference list

It's in Fretboard Part 3, "The Architect of Disruption"; where at the onset of the course, the student is tasked with a decision: memorize all of the notes, everywhere on the neck, now, in this period of training, or move onto a challenge that they're not ready for until they do.

I designed it this way. Fretboard Part 3 is so large in it's size, because it goes through the finite list, systematically and comprehensively, of how we can arrange scales for the 4 fingers of the fretting hand.

Because this is the scope of the course, the contract to fully commit to navigating the fretboard in note names as the primary method, must be metaphorically signed and delivered by the student, here, at this very point.

This is necessary, because that gives me permission to teach the higher level aspects of the skill, as I've been doing already while recording the Fretboard Part 3 videos.

Let me be clear: this program was exclusively designed for the player chasing their own ideal of mastery, and has felt the let-down, limitation, and ultimately misalignment, of everything else that they have committed to when it comes to fretboard visualization and spontaneous grand design in their intellectual and expressive fluidity on the guitar.

That's why this program is so unapologetic; it's not an option. It's the answer. The right one. The superior one for the player who has exhausted fun on the instrument, and can no longer tolerate the redundancy of not being able to build and extend line after line, to their whim, in real-time improvisation.

This player suffers because they can't command the instrument at the level they truly want. This player suffers because they aren't experiencing the level of mastery that they desire as an improviser.

By the way, I'm this player. I'm always feeling that feeling of the gap between my current level and my current, newest ambitions. When we don't feel pain from that gap, progress, and art of acquiring that progress, no longer serves us.

This is for the player who wants to be equally unapologetic in the demonstration of what their vision of their own experience of mastery looks like.

Link in comments for you to challenge yourself, free for 7 days.

Play at a high level, be unapologetic about it, and do the things that the ideal version of yourself as a player, musician, and artist had to do to reach that level.

I'll see you on the other side.

- MVD

06/18/2026

STUDENT PERFORMANCE:

Please give a big round of applause to Jeevan for his performance of "Smokey Mountain Prelude" from Faber Level 5! 👏👏👏

06/16/2026

Improvising freely on Facebook Live using Real-Time Note Name Generation. Playing in a way that feels like what I imagine flying feels like.

Message me for lesson inquiries if you don't like the way that you improvise, and don't want to tolerate it anymore.

Link in comments for the Real-Time Note Name Generation program, so that you'll never feel stuck, redundant, or uncreative again. 👇

06/12/2026

REAL-TIME NOTE NAME GENERATION PROGRAM UPDATE:

Fretboard Part 3, "The Architect of Disruption" is being steadily built, and now has 13 out of 124 videos now available to all members.

There are currently 83 videos completed for the program.

Fretboard Part 3 is a significant jump in commitment to leading our navigating of the fingerboard in the Great Liberator, which are note names.

Because of this, the shapes cover all 6 strings, in both oblique directions, and both vertical directions, in 7 scales that I chose for very particular reasons.

The training that we completed in Fretboard Part 2 is ramped up significantly. Fretboard Part 3 teaches us that memorizing the notes on the fretboard, cold, is just the beginning. Generating them in real-time has a very high bar of entry. Once we get to Fretboard Part 3, we're ready to meet it.

The magic is that everyone, no matter what your level, all starts from the same place. The pace that you move is entirely dependent on where your level of the skill is. That's why everyone starts from ground zero.

The vision that is being brought into reality about this program as I build it is that, at it's core, it's the most comprehensive and intensive program ever designed specifically for the greatest asset skill that we can have for never feeling stuck, uncreative, uninspired, unoriginal, and without command of the music that we want to create spontaneously, ever again.

To make this happen, the program NEVER delves into the playing of any particular style. This is what nurtures the students' own artistry. I want you to play the way that you like and the way that you're curious to.

Through this we learn how to demystify styles through analysis. This is how we combine styles to create our own, signature style that are fully intentional, original to us, and give us the courage to pioneer our own playing experience.

As an improvisor, I don't believe that there's anything more empowering than that.

The Real-Time Note Name Generation program is free to try for 7 days. Link in comments.

---MVD

06/11/2026

STUDENT PERFORMANCE:

Please give a big round of applause for Yovaan as he performs the first A section of the well-known Beethoven bagatelle, "Für Elise".

After completing his first method book in his piano studies, I saw that he seemed... hungry...

I recognized it, because in my earlier student years I had the same hunger.

We discussed repertoire options, and he had always wanted to play this piece. He's currently working on the B section in the classical style.

DM for lesson inquiries.