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Pentatonic scales are very common and oftenly used by musician in improvisation, it could easily mix with another harmonic instrument because it’s based on theory of “circle of fifth”. In definition, pentatonic scale contains five pitch per octave in contrast to an heptatonic (seven note) scale. Here are the two general patterns :

C Major Pentatonic Scale :
A Minor Pentatonic Scale :

The Difference of major and minor is on its interval from the first note. Major scale is started with 1-3b (do-mi) and the minor pentatonic is started with 1-3b (do-mi(flat) or do-re(sharp)).

The circle of fifth (or cycle of fifths) is an imaginary geometrical space that depicts relationships among the 12 equal-tempered pitch classes comprising the familiar chromatic scale. Since the space is circular, it is also possible to descend by fourths. In pitch class space, motion in one direction by a fourth is equivalent to motion in the opposite direction by a fifth. For this reason the circle of fifths is also known as the circle of fourths. The circle is commonly used to represent the relations between diatonic scales, If one starts on any equal-tempered pitch and repeatedly ascends by the musical interval of a perfect fifth, one will eventually land on a pitch with the same pitch class as the initial one, passing through all the other equal-tempered chromatic pitch classes in between.

Tonal music often modulates by moving between adjacent scales on the circle of fifths. This is because diatonic scales contain seven pitch classes that are contiguous on the circle of fifths. It follows that diatonic scales a perfect fifth apart share six of their seven notes. Moreover, the notes not held in common differ by only a semitone. Thus modulation by perfect fifth can be accomplished in an exceptionally smooth fashion. For example, to move from the C major scale F-C-G-D-A-E-B to the G major scale C-G-D-A-E-B-F#, one need only move the C major scale’s F to F#.

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