What scale is this?

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hessodreamyhessodreamy Frets: 116
There's a scale I often come across in 50s & 60s guitar solos, and I think rockabilly too, that I can't figure out what it is (if it is even a specific thing).

In A it would go A C C# E F# G A. 

This minor & major 3rd is seen in Johnny B Goode, Drive My Car, Hound Dog, Rock Around the Clock.

Is it just a pentatonic with a maj 3rd and the occasional min 7th thrown in?
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  • BarneyBarney Frets: 614
    There's a scale I often come across in 50s & 60s guitar solos, and I think rockabilly too, that I can't figure out what it is (if it is even a specific thing).

    In A it would go A C C# E F# G A. 

    This minor & major 3rd is seen in Johnny B Goode, Drive My Car, Hound Dog, Rock Around the Clock.

    Is it just a pentatonic with a maj 3rd and the occasional min 7th thrown in?
    You could look at it as a A13 arp..with C to C # as a passing tone minor 3rd to maj 3rd


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  • sm55onlsm55onl Frets: 28
    The noted scale results in the formula:
    R, b3, 3, 5, 6 (13 ?), b7

    It seems similar to that of a mixolydian scale (/mode)
    [R 2 3 4 5 6 b7: A B C# D E F# G]
    without the 2nd and 4th degrees of the scale bit with the inclusion as noted, above, a passing tone of a minor 3rd...
    http://www.jazz-guitar-licks.com/pages/guitar-scales-modes/modes-of-the-major-scale/the-mixolydian-mode.html

    So, the following bastardised conglomeration ??
    - mixolydian scale
    - dominant 7th arpeggio [R, 3, 5, b7]
    - minor 7th arpeggio [R, b3, 5, b7]
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  • mr-macmr-mac Frets: 200
    edited April 2018
    Often rock and roll stayed major in key however chuck/Johnny b goode mostly follows the blues minor pentatonic with some parts flipping to the more normal r&r major or playing the major note as a passing.  So in this case I'd say its not really a scale but a minor pentatonic dipping into another major scale

    if ya list all or most of notes you'll be saying oh its a bit like this or that scale without a match.  That's because it's two scales the minor pentatonic and whatever you'd call the major version used in standard rock and roll and as i say dips into that one.
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  • sm55onlsm55onl Frets: 28
    Nice one, Mr Mac !

    Blues Scales:
    Major: R, 2, b3, 3, 5, 6
    [A, B, C, C#, E, F#]

    Minor: R, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7
    [A, C, D, Eb, E, G]

    ...and, as if by magic,...
    https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/essential-blues-basics-soloing-combined-minormajor-pentatonic-scales

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  • Phil_aka_PipPhil_aka_Pip Frets: 9794
    Sometimes you might find a guitarist changing scales eg using the maj penatonic for the I chord and then switching to the minor pentatonic for the IV chord - going from an "up"/peppy to a sleazy sound ... and if you amalgamate those 2 scales you get the effect you describe.
    "Working" software has only unobserved bugs. (Parroty Error: Pieces of Nine! Pieces of Nine!)
    Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
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  • vizviz Frets: 10644
    edited April 2018
    Hungarian major without the aug4. But I’m not sure that’s what Bill Haley had in mind

    2nd row, left-hand scale (the red one):
    http://www.guitaristtv.com/Downloads/Modes%202014_02_18%20-%20for%20GTV.xlsx

    But it’s really mixolydian wih no 4th or 2nd, and a minor and major 3rd. The 3rds and the flat 7 give it a bluesy rock’n’rolly feel. 
    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • mr-macmr-mac Frets: 200
    sm55onl said:
    Nice one, Mr Mac !

    Blues Scales:
    Major: R, 2, b3, 3, 5, 6
    [A, B, C, C#, E, F#]

    Minor: R, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7
    [A, C, D, Eb, E, G]

    ...and, as if by magic,...
    https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/essential-blues-basics-soloing-combined-minormajor-pentatonic-scales

    Aye but i play it in Bb
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  • sm55onlsm55onl Frets: 28
    mr-mac said:
    sm55onl said:
    Nice one, Mr Mac !

    Blues Scales:

    Aye but i play it in Bb
    Jazzy !
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  • hessodreamyhessodreamy Frets: 116
    Good information, guys, that's been bugging me.
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  • mr-macmr-mac Frets: 200
    edited April 2018
    sm55onl said:
    mr-mac said:
    sm55onl said:
    Nice one, Mr Mac !

    Blues Scales:

    Aye but i play it in Bb
    Jazzy !
    Nah....Johnny Johnson'y

    bit hard to jam with original on cassette in any other key unless ya use a capo or slow tape doon
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  • mr-mac said:
    sm55onl said:
    Nice one, Mr Mac !

    Blues Scales:
    Major: R, 2, b3, 3, 5, 6
    [A, B, C, C#, E, F#]

    Minor: R, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7
    [A, C, D, Eb, E, G]

    ...and, as if by magic,...
    https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/essential-blues-basics-soloing-combined-minormajor-pentatonic-scales

    Aye but i play it in Bb
    Jonny B flat?
    My trading feedback

    is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?

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  • hessodreamyhessodreamy Frets: 116
    Jonny B flat?
    Noice.
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  • ClarkyClarky Frets: 3261
    edited April 2018
    I'd think of this: A C C# E F# G A as A Mixolydian with the C as an accidental
    in context, the C will almost never sound in on its own without being followed by C# [slide up to it, bend to it etc]
    or it'll be bent by a microtone towards the C# so it'll still imply the C#
    play every note as if it were your first
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited August 2018
    The Chord! app says it's the A Rock 'n Roll scale. You can stick a D in there too.

    http://getchord.com
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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