Pentatonics= King of melodic soloing?

[cire113]

Ive been working on my soloing lately and man it seems the Pentatonics are the king!!!! Why do alot of Pro's talk **** about them... they rule....

I see that if i land on a pentatonic note i can play ANY other NOTE thats right any note and it doesnt matter as long as i land on a "right one"

Its amazing how creative u can get with 12 notes...

But boy can you do alot with just 5 NOTES!!!

sorry im like a little kid..


ive been listening to lots of herbie hancock i love his use of the pentatonics

[BigOldHarry]

While the pentatonic scale is fundamental, it *has* been beaten to death; Folks disparage over use for that reason. Quality bass soloing (if there is such a thing) should, in my opinion, a modal approach.

[cire113]

See in my opinion every time i play it.. I pretend like its the first time ive ever played it and its marvelous every time... Like when i look at the world everyday in awe,
keep it fresh.. ..

if it sounds good play it.. thats my approach... simple or complicated...

It hasnt been beaten to death to my ears yet lol

[KingRazor]

Pentatonics don't sound like solos when I play them...

[dalconthenovice]

harry you interest me

when you say 'modal approach' what exactly does that mean? i know my diatonic modes very well but i'm just curious as to how i could use them in the sense you are asking me too, infact i've been needing to know how to actually USE my modes for some time

[kesslari]

A lot of pros use the heck out of pentatonics, too... especially for fast passages.

And for a nice look at the universality of pentatonics (and a great watch), check out Bobby McFerrin here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk

[bottomzone]

This guy is fairly decent. Here's his advice regarding pentatonic scales:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACeTkn69tGE

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

[ksandvik]

You can't go wrong by using 25% of the alphabet, but it makes boring reading.

[gre107]

Pentatonics like any other scales are just the "letters" to be used to make words and sentences - phrases.

There is nothing wrong with using pentatonics many great players use them all of the time (Gary Willis comes to mind...). It's what you do with the "building blocks" that counts.

You can make any mode sound cliche just as easily as a pentatonic.

What you say and how you say it is more important than the letters and words you use.

Peace out!

[mambo4]

Pentatonic are great for zoning out, ignoring the chords and playing what you feel.
The downside is you're zoning out and ignoring the chords.

[Intenzity]

Pentatonics are as hip as you want to make them be. You dont have to play E Pentatonic over E min, you can play A, B or F# minor too, plus a gazillion others. Jaco threw in some pentatonics on just about every solo he ever did somewhere, in some places he used them extensively. His famous groups-of-five lick comes to mind.


Here are some patterns that a lot of saxophone players use that I transferred to bass clef. Lots of cool stuff to work out.

Bergonzi Pentatonic Patterns for Bass

[joebar]

i find that pentatonic scales are very foundational for bass players because one can construct most walking type lines out of them. how you play them is the key

[bottomzone]

Originally Posted by Intenzity

Pentatonics are as hip as you want to make them be. You dont have to play E Pentatonic over E min, you can play A, B or F# minor too, plus a gazillion others. Jaco threw in some pentatonics on just about every solo he ever did somewhere, in some places he used them extensively. His famous groups-of-five lick comes to mind.


Here are some patterns that a lot of saxophone players use that I transferred to bass clef. Lots of cool stuff to work out.

Bergonzi Pentatonic Patterns for Bass

Cool!!! Thanks!!!

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

[baddarryl]

That Jimmy Haslip link was cool. Brought up a question for me. How do you determine the Relative minor or major to the Pentatonic scales?

[baddarryl]

Ok the relative minor is the 5th degree of the major, and the relative minor is the 2nd degree of the major.

[KingRazor]

Originally Posted by baddarryl

Ok the relative minor is the 5th degree of the major, and the relative minor is the 2nd degree of the major.

Umm I'm pretty sure the relative minor is the sixth degree of the major.

Example: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

A is the relative minor of C. A is the sixth degree of the C major scale.

[Stick_Player]

Umm I'm pretty sure the relative minor is the sixth degree of the major.

Correct.

The relative minor of any major key is derived from the sixth degree of that major key. B Minor is the relative minor of D Major.

The relative major of any minor key is derived from the third degree of that minor key. G Major is the relative major of E Minor.

The parallel minor of any major key is derived from the first degree of that major key. C Minor is the parallel minor of C Major.

The parallel major of any minor key is derived from the first degree of that minor key. F# Major is the relative major of F# Minor.

[Mike Dimin]

The pentatonic scale has no "avoid" notes. Since there are no avoid notes, all the others will sound good. It has many cool uses. The pentatonic scale can also sounds dated and boring as your melodic interest is a bit limited

[Spin Doctor]

I think if you want to build a nice solo, you should be able to weave seamlessly between using pentatonics, modes, interval groupings and the rest. You use snippets of this, and pieces of that.

Just as you don't use the same words in the same way all the time, it's how you arrange them that makes the difference between just being the Average Joe and Shakespeare. Or Hemingway. Or whoever... Great writers are all using the same words. Great musicians all have the same twelve notes to work with. I'm still working on this, lol. Prolly will be for the rest of my life...

But having said all that, yeah, pentatonics rule. I've been transcribing Jimmy Haslips solos lately, and his solos seem to be about 90% pentatonics. But he has a huge bag of patterns to pull stuff from. It's still mainly pentatonics, though. It's cool that you've been checking out Herbie's stuff. That's another person I plan to start stealing from, lol. Chick Corea and the rest too.

@ Mike: Sure pentatonics can sound boring, if you play it boringly. Anything be boring. But I don't see how it can be considered dated. Pentatonics have been in use for as long as music has been around. I don't think people can "outgrow" a basic fundamental concept. Humans everywhere intuitively get pentatonics as has been demonstrated by Bobby McFerrin in one of his videos. But there are other points of interest besides just the notes. There is rhythmic interest, dynamic interest, use of space, etc. That's just my opinion, however.

[Spin Doctor]

Originally Posted by Stick_Player

Correct.
...The relative major of any minor key is derived from the third degree of that minor key. G Major is the relative major of E Minor...

The relative major is the flat third of a minor key. Just sayin'...