Scales in Mahavishnu Birds of Fire ?

[xolin]

Hey, I was just wondering what sort of scales is Mclaughlin using during those Hendrix meets Shankar solos? It's like a blues lick and then he hits some tone or quarter tone that sounds so raga...

I know very little of eastern musical theory so enlighten me

[pointbass]

It's a bit dificult to describe what is going on with Mahavishnu from that period, but in essence, it's primarily Chinese scales, based on the huang chung, which is sort of a Pythagorean cycle of fifths and the lus, which is pentatonic.

Do an internet search on both the huang chung and lus in oriental music, you'll get more detail there. Fairly complex stuff .....

[64jazzbass]

Originally Posted by xolin

Hey, I was just wondering what sort of scales is Mclaughlin using during those Hendrix meets Shankar solos? It's like a blues lick and then he hits some tone or quarter tone that sounds so raga...

I know very little of eastern musical theory so enlighten me

This would fall under the category of "Western" music theory, but Mclaughlin uses the 5th mode of the Harmonic Minor scale on occasion. This creates a nice "Eastern" flavor.

[xolin]

Originally Posted by 64jazzbass

This would fall under the category of "Western" music theory, but Mclaughlin uses the 5th mode of the Harmonic Minor scale on occasion. This creates a nice "Eastern" flavor.

So kinda like a harmonic Mixolydian (not sure if that is proper nomenclature)?

I think it also has to do with his doing bends and legato stuff on the downbeats of runs...that sounds SOO cool

[DemoEtc]

I remember walking into a music store - which had sheet music - and noticing a Mahavishnu Orchestra score sticking out. I looked at it, saw "Cycle of 13ths" or something similar, and quickly stuck the music back in the trough.

Cycle of 13ths. It stuck with me though and when I got home I tried doing 13ths in a cycle - like stacked 13ths, played like an arpeggio - and darned if it didn't sound like that one part of that one song!

I couldn't play it fast or in tempo (it was in an odd meter), but it put a smile on my face anyhow.