What are the characteristic scales, keys, intervals, progressions, etc. of pirate / sailing / nautical music?

1. What scale does pirate music use?
2. What makes pirate music pirate music?
3. What scales do sea shanties use?

What scale does pirate music use?

The most basic pentatonic scale follows scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 (and 1 and octave higher). I believe 12/8 time shows up quite a bit in "piratey" music! I've seen this counted as both 12/8 and as 4/4 with triplets.

What makes pirate music pirate music?

Pirate melodies and rhythm tend to be jumpy and bouncy so that's what we are working with, without going too much into Pirates Of The Caribbean. ... pirate music is often based on folk-style melodies which are heavily swung, lots of dotted notes.

What scales do sea shanties use?

Also, more often than not they're written in 6/8 or 2/4. Triplets lend themselves well to shanties. Usually they're based in either major, minor, or dorian - heavily tonic based.