Common Pentatonic b6 Combinations

Last night in the practice room I revisited this post about a mildly altered pentatonic so this morning I decided to pull out some more possibilities for combining it with familiar things.

The Common Pentatonic b6 is 1 2 3 5 b6 -- i.e. just a normal major pentatonic with the last note dropped a semitone. Easy to find and play. As usual, I think 7-note sets are the sweet spot (enough variety to be interesting but not too crowded) so that's what I worked out.

The first obvious thing to try is combining Common Pentatonic b6 with some normal seventh arpeggios:

      Common b6 + b2 Maj7   is   1,b2,bb3,b4,bb5,bb6,bbb7 (Mode of b7maj+nat7maj)
      Common b6 + b3 Maj7   is   1,2,b3,b4,5,b6,b7 (Mode of Suryakantam)
      Common b6 + 1 Min7   is   1,2,b3,b4,5,b6,b7 (Mode of Suryakantam)
      Common b6 + 3 Maj7   is   1,2,b3,b4,5,b6,7 (Mode of Gayakapriya)
      Common b6 + 4 Maj7   is   1,2,3,4,5,b6,bb7 (Mode of Melodic Minor b4)
      Common b6 + 2 Min7   is   1,2,3,4,5,b6,bb7 (Mode of Melodic Minor b4)
      Common b6 + b2 Dim   is   1,b2,bb3,b4,5,b6,b7 (Mode of Suvarnangi)
      Common b6 + 3 Dim   is   1,b2,bb3,b4,5,b6,b7 (Mode of Suvarnangi)
      Common b6 + 2 Dim   is   1,2,3,4,5,b6,7 (Mode of Harmonic Major)
      Common b6 + 4 Dim   is   1,2,3,4,5,b6,7 (Mode of Harmonic Major)
      Common b6 + b2 m7b5   is   1,b2,bb3,b4,5,b6,7 (Mode of Divyamani)
      Common b6 + b2 Min7   is   1,b2,bb3,b4,5,b6,7 (Mode of Divyamani)
      Common b6 + b5 m7b5   is   1,2,3,#4,5,b6,bb7 (Mode of Manavati)
      Common b6 + 2 Dom7   is   1,2,3,#4,5,b6,bb7 (Mode of Manavati)
      Common b6 + 4 Min7   is   1,2,b3,b4,bb5,bb6,bbb7 (Mode of Eurean)

The two Divyamani ones are pretty much the same idea but there's a lot of variety here -- nine scales, ranging from the unusual (Harmonic Major) to the extremely rare (Eurean). That's already an overwhelming amount to digest.

Right now I'm particularly enjoying Common b6 + b3 Maj7, which I'm thinking of as superimposing VI Common b6 over a Maj 7 chord, producing the scale 1 b2 3 4 5 6 7, which is Suryakantam itself aka Ionian b2. This has a lovely sour quality that really suits the Common b6 itself. It has a family resemblance to the bII Maj 7 superimposition, which yields 1 b2 3 4 5 b6 7, which is Double Harmonic, and alternating between the two brings out the contrasting 6 and b6.

Common b6 + b2 Min7 is an interesting way to get the Divyamani sound too (1 b2 b3 #4 5 #6 7), which I usually get by combining I MiP with bIII m7 over a minor chord. Here we're invited to play the m7 arpeggio at the root and superimpose VII Common b6, which is quite easy to "see". Here the more common family member seems to me to be Neapolitan (1 b2 b3 4 5 6 7), but Divyamani is a rich and interesting sound in itself and the cluster of semitones around the root provides lots of scope for unexpected resolutions.

Here's a handful of others that might be worth adding to the pile:

      Common Pentatonic + 2 Common b6   is   1,2,3,#4,5,6,b7 (Mode of Melodic Minor)
      Common Pentatonic + 4 Common b6   is   1,b2,bb3,b4,bb5,bb6,bb7 (Mode of Varunapriya)
      Common b6 + 4 Common Pentatonic   is   1,2,3,4,5,b6,bb7 (Mode of Melodic Minor b4)
      Common b6 + 3 Common b6   is   1,2,3,#4,5,b6,7 (Mode of Suryakantam)

Maybe there's something in all this to spice up your playing...