During a normal practice session i will take some time to come up with a few riffs. I will first hum or sing it and then figure out how to play it. Therefore helping me to hear the sounds of each degree. Everytime i come up with one it always turns out to be a minor pentatonic scale pattern. Never a major. Is there any sort of a reason for this or is it just s*** luck that it turns out to be like that?:confused:

Maybe that's the music you listen to alot and what you hear in your head when you play.

If that minor pent. scale is the only one you have internalized and can really sing/feel when you play, then it follows that the minor pent. is the one you are gonna fall back on, time and time again.

The sonic universe is huge with so many sounds/color/flavors and if you want to get outside of your 5 note minor box you are going to have to expand your ears and harmonic/scalar knowledge.

If you'd like a quick comfortable fix, you can try using the relative major pent. scale that is the same notes as your minor pent scale, only starting on the flat 3rd.

So A minor pent= A C D E G (A)

Now try thinking C as the root of the scale= C D E G A (C)
Also try throwing in the F#, it's a nice blue note.

As other have pointed out you are playing from what you know and most familiar with. That is where learning new things via theory or listening to more styles of music. Then take these new sounds and make them your own.

Also I doubt you have explored everything there is to know about minor pentatonics. Adding chromatics, trying them against different chords. Take the riffs you have already come up with and see how they can be used on different chords. Say take a A minor riff you created, you know it sounds good on Ami chords what about againist a Fma, Cma or Gma. Can you get a Bluesy sound using it over a A7? Work on how you coming to or out of that riff. Do you have a cool E7 riff to lead into the Ami riff to create turnaround.

I think you get the idea coming up with the riff (or motif in more of a Jazz parlance) is just the beginnning. Good solos start with a motif and then build on that motif. Add notes to it, subtact from it, change the order of the notes, reverse it, change the rhythm, explore what can be done, then create another motif and start over. That is the key behind great solos and basslines. Start simple and expand, then create a new motif and repeat the process.

That is a problem with young players in solos and tunes. They come up with a great riff or motif, then try to come up with another and another, another endlessly. Trouble it maybe only one or two were great. Also they sound like bingo machine of licks to the the audence. Come up with a riff/motif, then play it a couple time to establish it with the listener. Then start expanding on it. That create interest in the listener wonder where your going to take it. Once you expand on it the new motif, and listener is ready for another. In fact many times the motif may not be that good, but it works as a good launching point. Listen to great bass player and how their line develops over the course of a song.

thanks everyone for the reply. They are all great suggestions to get out of the same routine. I think im going to have to start listening to some different kinds of music to get different ideas in my head. Thanks again.

I created this application to help me brainstorm and experiment with exactly what you are trying to do - come up with alternative approaches/scales/arpeggios within the context of a key signature.

What it does is allows you to enter the fundamental mode - for example: Key sig. = C minor (Aeolian) - and it gives you the other modal scales that will be in lock-step with that key.

So using C minor as our starting point, you could:

Start on an Eb (nice chord tone) and run the Ionian mode/major scale/arpeggios and be confident that all the notes "belong"

Or start on G and run the Phrygian mode (minor scale patter with a b2) - and so on...

I KNOW THIS IS NOT THE ANSWER TO "HOW DO I USE THE MODES TO SOLO OR IMPROVISE?" - before the flame start... I understand that improvising and creating musically appealing parts has more to do with your ears and feel than anything else - but I have found that using this little toy sometime (hell, a lot of times) shows me some interval patterns or lines that are very interesting and useful.

http://www.mydigitalinnerchild.com/_xfer/flash/modegenerator_v04.html

Try it - who knows? It may be great, it may suck. To me... it is just one of many different ways to approach being creative with music.

I KNOW THIS IS NOT THE ANSWER TO "HOW DO I USE THE MODES TO SOLO OR IMPROVISE?" - before the flame start... I understand that improvising and creating musically appealing parts has more to do with your ears and feel than anything else - but I have found that using this little toy sometime (hell, a lot of times) shows me some interval patterns or lines that are very interesting and useful.

http://www.mydigitalinnerchild.com/_xfer/flash/modegenerator_v04.html

Try it - who knows? It may be great, it may suck. To me... it is just one of many different ways to approach being creative with music.

No flame just say when you do find a use of a scale or pattern you like, then take the next step write down the notes and see how they relate to the chord being played. That way you start learning the colors your ear likes. Later you will know will be able to think I want that sound I use this note.

No flame just say when you do find a use of a scale or pattern you like, then take the next step write down the notes and see how they relate to the chord being played. That way you start learning the colors your ear likes. Later you will know will be able to think I want that sound I use this note.

I agree. There is great value in writing things down. I makes what you do "in your head" more clear and more "knowable".