Would appreciate your help and input just started playing...

[cire113]

I have just started playing bass and i am already in a rock band! it is very exciting... Anyways here is what i have been working on

The major scale

THe minor scale

The major penatonic and minor penatonic scales

Now im hoping all this will keep me busy for a while...

The part im confused at is the different modes of the penatonic scales... I dont understand how to find the different modes using the same root note across the entire fretboard.... I can do the major and minor penatonics starting on any root note but i dont quite understand the theory of how to extend into different "modes" across the neck...

For instance playing an A penatonic scale on the whole fretboard there are like "several" positions 5 i believe...


Thanks for the help and if anyone has any other theory stuff Which is good to learn please let me know!

I practice 1 hour every day! thanks

[MarkTAW]

The major & minor scales and & major and minor pentatonic scales have 100% overlapping notes.

An Aminor scale has all the same notes as a Cmajor.

An Aminor pentatonic has all the same notes as a Cmajor pentatonic.

The modes just extend this to every note in the scale. A "D dorian" starts on the 2nd note of the C major scale and contains all the same notes, etc.

So when you practice an A minor pentatonic, also practice the related C major pentatonic and so on.

[cire113]

i still dont understand how to extend the pentatonic scale...

Lets say i start and the fingering for the minor pentatonic is simple you know

5 8
5 7
5 7


how do i expand from there and go all the way down the fret board

[MarkTAW]

You need to learn where the notes are on your fretboard. You can find the note E on any of the following frets:

E string 0 fret
E string 12th fret (+12 frets)
- D string 14th fret (+2 strings + 2 frets)
A string 7th fret (+1 string + 7 frets)
- G string 9th fret (+2 strings + 2 frets)
D string 2nd fret (+2 strings +2 frets)

If you're playing in E, you can start a scale (diatonic or pentatonic) on any of those spots.

[cire113]

thanks for the response i think i finally get it.... so the different modes are just playing the same scale in different positions with the same 5 notes...

are there any other notable scales to learn that are as Useful as the minor and major pentatonic...

my friend says with the major and minor pentatonic scales on bass and knowledge of 5 different positions for each key i can basically play 90% of popular band music

after first position in petatonics are the notes played in the same order or different order if i was going up the neck?

[DudeistMonk]

my friend says with the major and minor pentatonic scales on bass and knowledge of 5 different positions for each key i can basically play 90% of popular band music

There are 5 notes in the pentatonic scales but there are 12 keys 1 for each note, the sharps/flats of each key are determined by the major scale (the major pentatonic + 3 "extra" notes) starting on the first note in the key. the major scale in the key of C has no sharps or flats, in G it has a sharp F...ext. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths

[DudeistMonk]

Sorry duplicate....grrr bad browser!

[MarkTAW]

Originally Posted by cire113

thanks for the response i think i finally get it.... so the different modes are just playing the same scale in different positions with the same 5 notes...

are there any other notable scales to learn that are as Useful as the minor and major pentatonic...

my friend says with the major and minor pentatonic scales on bass and knowledge of 5 different positions for each key i can basically play 90% of popular band music

after first position in petatonics are the notes played in the same order or different order if i was going up the neck?

Technically it's a different scale, it just happens to have all the same notes as the other scale. When you're in A minor it's the A minor scale, when you're in C Major it's the C Major scale, even if it has all the same notes.

90%? May be an exaggeration, but generally, yes, most music can be played with the pentatonic scales over the chords being played.

Once you know the shape of the scale, you can use that shape anywhere the root note appears. So the C major pentatonic scale can be used on any C on the fretboard and it would be legitimate to use there.

After a while you'll learn where the notes are without always thinking in terms of rooting yourself in one place or another (or not).

major scale (the major pentatonic + 3 "extra" notes)

... + 2 extra notes :P

[DudeistMonk]

... + 2 extra notes :P

My bad...I managed to count the second out of the pentatonic somehow.