A-flat Major & Minor Improvisation (Unit 5)

What is the A-flat major pentascale?

The A-flat major pentascale is a group of five notes including A♭, B♭, C, D♭, and E♭.

How is the A-flat major pentascale related to A major?

The A-flat major pentascale is the first five notes of the A major scale.

What are the notes in A-flat minor?

The notes in A-flat minor are A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, and G♭. Every note in this scale is flat. The A♭ minor pentascale is A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, and E♭. Notice that the only note that is different from the A♭ major pentascale is C, which is C♭ in the A♭ minor pentascale.

What is the difference between A-flat major and A-flat minor?

The difference between A-flat major and A-flat minor is that in A-flat minor all notes are flat, but in A-flat major the C, F, and G are natural. These three notes are a half-step higher in the A-flat major scale than they are in the A-flat minor scale. This difference gives the A-flat major a lighter, more open sound than the more somber A-flat minor scale.

What are the enharmonic equivalents of the A-flat major pentascale notes?

Some enharmonic equivalents of the A-flat major pentascale notes are as follows:

A♭ can be written as G♯ 

B♭ can be written as A♯ 

C can be written as B♯ 

D♭ can be written as C♯ 

E♭ can be written as D♯

How do you find the V7 chord in A-flat major?

There are several ways to find the V7 chord in A-flat major. The most straightforward would be to find the 5th tone of the scale, which is E♭, build a major triad on it (E♭-G-B♭), and then go up a minor third and add the note D♭, which is the 7th tone above the 5th tone in the A-flat major scale.

An easy way to play a V7 chord in A-flat major, especially if you’re moving between the I chord and the V7 chord, is to play an inversion. Simply play B♭-D♭-E♭ to get the V7 sound. If you want, you can add the G as the highest note of the chord, and play B♭-D♭-E♭-G. This is the 2nd inversion of the V7 chord in A-flat major, and from this chord you only have to shift your fingers slightly to play the I chord, which is A♭-C-E♭.

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we have two new black key
pentascales to learn: A-flat major and minor.
Let's come to the piano to get started.
Here we have the A major pentascale, but we'd like to turn this into A-flat major.
So to do that we'll just color reverse it like we've done
before.
We'll take these two white notes and move them down a half step to black keys.
This black key will become a white key,
and these two white keys will step
down a half step to become black keys.
So we moved everything down one half step,
and now we have another Oreo cookie position: A-flat major.
Now can you point and name each note one at a time using only flat names for the black keys?
Try it by yourself, go.
Here's the correct answer. We have A-flat,
B-flat, C, D-flat, E-flat.
Now let's try a tricky challenge. Let's name these same
notes enharmonically using only sharp names.
And remember, we want to use each
letter of the alphabet in order and only once.
Can you try to name these with
sharps?
Here's the answer:
We have G-sharp, A-sharp, then a B-sharp, C-sharp, D-sharp.
Well, you might be asking well why not just call this C?
Well remember we want
to use the letters in order. We had a G,
we had an A, G-sharp and A-sharp, then the next letter in the alphabet is B.
So if we want to use sharp
names we have to call this a B-sharp,
and then a C-sharp. If we had a C and a C-sharp, then we'd be using C twice and no B.
So we have to say G-sharp, A-sharp, B-sharp, C-sharp, D-sharp.
If we want to spell it by sharps.
Now, can you tell me
which note I would have to change to make this minor?
If you said this third note here, the B-sharp or C,
you're correct. We need to lower that a half step to B.
So now we have G-sharp minor, or we could say A-flat minor.
All right, let's try 'Stepping and Skipping' hands together.
Right off the bat with both hands in the A-flat major pentascale.
Can you find this with me?
We'll go nice and slow, 'Stepping and Skipping' hands together in A-flat major.
1 2 ready, go: ♫Stepping up, and stepping down, and skipping up and down♫
Now play a chord. I chord, let's try the V7 chord,
and then back to the I chord.
Now just in case you
forgot how to find the V7 chord,
you move DO down to TI which in this
case is a white key. It's always a half step below DO.
And then we use FA and
SO, which in this case are these two black keys here.
Together with this G make the V7 chord. We have I chord,
V7 chord, I chord.
Now let's turn that into G-sharp minor.
...