The Five Notes that Connect the World

November 17th, 2025

“Music is the universal language” is a phrase I hear a lot, especially when someone I meet finds out I teach guitar and work at KVNO. It’s a sentiment that feels true and has some science to back it up.

But did you know that there really is a near-universal musical scale? It’s called the pentatonic scale, and once you learn what it sounds like, you’ll hear it everywhere. Think of the folk song “Oh, Susanna” and you’ll have the right idea.

With surprisingly few alterations, these five notes form the basis of cultural music around the world.

• In churches it shows up in Gregorian chant in cathedrals, African American spirituals, and many popular hymns.
• Native American chants are heavily pentatonic, as is folk music from the British Isles (Ireland, Scottland, England, etc.).
• Music of China, Korean, and Japan all have strong pentatonic foundations, though each customizes it in unique ways.
• Indian and other South Asian music relies heavily on pentatonic scales, but often combines or alters them for that signature sound that’s unmistakable.
• Add one specific note, and you have the blues scale, the basis of dozens of genres and styles. B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Muddy Waters come to mind, but also Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Eric Clapton, and more. In this form, the pentatonic scale infiltrates and permeates genres like jazz, country, and rock. Taylor Swift, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Miles David, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pink Floyd, Ed Sheeran, Charlie Parker, AC/DC…the list is almost endless.

Why is it so pervasive? There are a few reasons. The pentatonic scale is relatively easy to sing (unlike “Happy Birthday”), lends itself to common harmonies and chord progressions, and has a natural melodic motion. It’s highly expressive, memorable, but also flexible – joyous and exuberant one moment, sorrowful and pensive the next.

What about classical music? What about Mozart, Vivaldi, and Tchaikovsky?

While classical music is largely based on a seven-note scale, it’s really a pentatonic scale dressed up with two extra notes. It may be subtle, but from Bach and Handel to Copland and Bernstein the pentatonic scale notes are the ones we hold onto longest, the ones we remember, the ones that make us feel connected.

The ones that remind us that we’re all human.