Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 26 to 43 of 43

Thread: Pentatonic scales

  1. #26
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Location
    LeRoy, NY
    Posts
    54

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    They call that "jazz".

  2. #27
    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Irving, TX
    Posts
    922

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    Just ordered The Pentatonic Mandolin. It shows as advanced, which I'm not, but hope to get there.

  3. #28

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    I have both of Niles’ books and they are good. I took them to the local copy shop and had them enlarged and bound with a platic comb so these old eyes of mine could see the print better. Also, Don Julin’s video in post #3 is really good, I refer back to it from time to time. He also has a online course going thru pentatonic scales and playing the chord changes.
    Northfield F5M #268, AT02 #7

  4. The following members say thank you to bigskygirl for this post:


  5. #29
    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Irving, TX
    Posts
    922

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    Quote Originally Posted by Sherry Cadenhead View Post
    Just ordered The Pentatonic Mandolin. It shows as advanced, which I'm not, but hope to get there.
    Question for anyone who has this book:

    Where do you suggest shifting from/to first position in exercises 2 and 3? I can always ask my teacher, but maybe some has figured this out???

  6. #30
    String-Bending Heretic mandocrucian's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,210

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    Quote Originally Posted by Sherry Cadenhead View Post
    Question for anyone who has this book:

    Where do you suggest shifting from/to first position in exercises 2 and 3? I can always ask my teacher, but maybe some has figured this out???
    Fingerings are in the space between the notation and tablature.

    NH

  7. #31
    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Irving, TX
    Posts
    922

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    Quote Originally Posted by mandocrucian View Post
    Fingerings are in the space between the notation and tablature.

    NH
    I see it! Thanks!

  8. #32
    Registered User lowtone2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    lower alabama
    Posts
    892

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    Not mandolin specific, but Jerry Bergonzi is pretty well known for his ideas on using pentatonics.

    https://www.mymusicmasterclass.com/p...nd-pdf-bundle/

  9. #33
    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Irving, TX
    Posts
    922

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    So, I'm working through some of the exercises in The Pentatonic Mandolin. I get that if you're playing the G major pentatonic scale, you don't play C or F# (4th and 7th). I'm thinking if I try to improvise, I'm going to hit those notes. I feel really dumb, but does it just happen that you hit the correct notes and don't hit those not in the scale? Do you even know what I mean?

  10. #34
    working musician Jim Bevan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Limache, Chile
    Posts
    805

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    Through practice, you've learned to play patterns and scale-runs etc in G major, using the seven notes of the G scale and only those seven notes, without hitting the other five notes of the chromatic scale. Same process will apply with the G major pentatonic scale – you'll learn to play patterns using five notes without hitting the other seven.

    Through practice, that is.
    mando scales
    technical exercises for rock blues & fusion mandolinists
    mp4 backing tracks & free downloadable pdfs

  11. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Jim Bevan For This Useful Post:


  12. #35
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    charlottesville, VA
    Posts
    1,140

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    What Jim said. The first challenge in improvising is avoiding the notes that don't sound "right", even if they are in the scale. Pentatonics do this for you automatically. If you can find ways to say something interesting using only the notes of the pentatonic scale, then you've completed the first step. Once you're comfortable playing phrases using only those five notes, you can start experimenting with adding in the 4ths and 7ths in ways that work and add interest (passing notes, color tones that indicate the chord underneath, etc.) It's all a process. Learning how to say something with a limited palette is an important building block.
    Mitch Russell

  13. The following members say thank you to onassis for this post:


  14. #36
    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Peace and Love
    Posts
    2,403

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    I was wondering, do you guys playing say, in the key of G major, play the G major pentatonic when the chord for the measure is G major, and then when it moves to a C major chord for the next measure, you change to the C major pentatonic?
    And Am chord would be...?

    I mean do you think in terms of constantly changing scales, or patterns?

  15. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Simon DS For This Useful Post:


  16. #37
    The Amateur Mandolinist Mark Gunter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    South of Cleburne, North of Hillsboro, Texas
    Posts
    5,083

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    Quote Originally Posted by Simon DS View Post
    I was wondering, do you guys playing say, in the key of G major, play the G major pentatonic when the chord for the measure is G major, and then when it moves to a C major chord for the next measure, you change to the C major pentatonic?
    And Am chord would be...?

    I mean do you think in terms of constantly changing scales, or patterns?
    There is not just "one way" to use scales, Simon, including the pentatonic scale. One answer would be that for most tunes, using the G major pentatonic scale alone over all the chords of a tune in the key of Gmajor will not sound "sour" - you can find licks or melodies using only the five notes of the G major pentatonic scale that will not sound "bad" over the chord changes in the key of G.

    But that could become a boring way of playing very quickly, so using other scales over the changes is a good thing to learn to do. Also, you can use some pentatonic scales of one key over another key to good effect, so that is something else to learn, for example, which chords or keys can the G major pentatonic be played over successfully besides G major? Can the G minor pentatonic be played over G major? Can the G major pentatonic be played over G minor? If you learn enough tunes, you'll find usages that perhaps you hadn't expected.

    As to playing a different scale over each change, yes, that is also common. Check out Pete Martin's excellent YouTube videos on the subject of chord scales using the Barry Harris method, an entire series posted here: https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/t...learning-bebop

    BTW, re: chord scales. When folks say, "chord scale" they often mean playing all the chords of a key in diatonic harmony ascending, example: G, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F#dim, G. That is playing diatonic harmony. On the other hand, a "chord scale" as Pete shows in his teaching of the Barry Harris method is a modified scale that adds notes to the scale in the appropriate places, so that the down stroke when playing eighth notes always falls on a chord tone.

    For a beginner, just try playing the x pentatonic scale over all the chords in the key of x, and try to find patterns or licks using only those five notes that sound good throughout the song. That's the simplest way to start.
    Last edited by Mark Gunter; Sep-27-2020 at 1:18pm.
    WWW.THEAMATEURMANDOLINIST.COM
    ----------------------------------
    "Life is short. Play hard." - AlanN

    ----------------------------------
    HEY! The Cafe has Social Groups, check 'em out. I'm in these groups:
    Newbies Social Group | The Song-A-Week Social
    The Woodshed Study Group | Blues Mando
    - Advice For Mandolin Beginners
    - YouTube Stuff

  17. The following members say thank you to Mark Gunter for this post:


  18. #38
    Registered User Tom Wright's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Rockville, MD
    Posts
    1,916
    Blog Entries
    7

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    Jim Bevan's economic reply is probably sufficient, but I want to explain something for elementary students.

    Scales and arpeggios are like the alphabet and spelling rules. Those don't on their own teach you to read, and certainly not to write. Only reading teaches that, as you see the uses of words (melody fragments), phrases (riffs) and sentences and stories (tunes).

    Scales alone just show you where the notes are. Adept players do not go from studying scales to riffing on fiddle tunes, many never bothered to learn scales if in the folk or bluegrass world.

    A fiddle tune is in itself both a scale and pentatonic exercise. And it shows how they are used.
    Bandcamp -- https://tomwright1.bandcamp.com/
    Videos--YouTube
    Sound Clips--SoundCloud
    The viola is proof that man is not rational

  19. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Tom Wright For This Useful Post:


  20. #39
    Registered User Sherry Cadenhead's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Irving, TX
    Posts
    922

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    So, is it better to focus on one key, such as G major, or several different ones simultaneously?

  21. #40
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    charlottesville, VA
    Posts
    1,140

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    One of the beautiful things about the mandolin is that is so predictable - once you begin to see the patterns on the fretboard, you see that they repeat predictably from one end of the fretboard to the other. The trick is learning to see the patterns. So I think it's very beneficial to work on the closed pentatonic scales.

    That said, I also think it's a real confidence booster to get comfortable in the first position with a key that you'll use a lot. For me, that was G. There were lots of songs in G to play along with at the jam, and it didn't take too long to feel reasonably adept at producing a non-embarassing attempt at a solo (this was a slow-ish folk jam, not BG). Then you figure out how to move those patterns one string over to play in D. Then extrapolate from that what you need to do for C. It's a process.

    If you keep picking away at it steadily, it will begin to make sense.
    Mitch Russell

  22. The following members say thank you to onassis for this post:


  23. #41
    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Peace and Love
    Posts
    2,403

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    One thing I just noticed, and I don’t know if it’s useful but it’s cool, is that in the key of G major:

    G pentatonic contains 1,2,3,5,6. that is it contains the notes 1,3,5 of G major chord ie. GBD
    C pentatonic same for C major ie. CEG
    D pentatonic same for D major ie. DF#A

    -haven’t tried it yet but it means that if you switch scales through the tune as the chords of each measure change then you’ll be playing the exact same patterns.
    So you could play a major shape chord over G,C, and D notes and then impro in the same way.

    Another thing is that the C note ONLY occurs in the C pentatonic, not the others so if you play that one note then it makes the tune go very IV.
    Similar for playing the D pentatonic, if you play the F# then the tune goes very V.

    It’s late here, hope this makes sense!

  24. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Simon DS For This Useful Post:


  25. #42
    Registered User Tim C.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Portland OR
    Posts
    113

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales



    Thanks for asking, Nick, great question. Loads of great responses. Here is a video of me playing nothing but the 5 notes of G pentatonic (along with the 6th "blues" note as well - leave it to musicians to put 6 things into something and then call it "penta" tonic!) over every chord in the tune, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love". All you need to know about pentatonic scale is that all the notes sound good over all of the chords - makes it way easier to get into making up a solo.
    Tim Connell
    Portland, Oregon
    www.timsmandolessons.com

  26. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Tim C. For This Useful Post:


  27. #43
    Registered User gspiess's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Central PA
    Posts
    301

    Default Re: Pentatonic scales

    FWIW, when I go to a jam there are a lot of songs that I don't know, and I'm not at a point yet where I can intuitively put the melody together like some folks. But with being able to find my way around with the Nashville Numbering System for chords and pentatonic scales for soloing, I'm able to hold my own.

    Once you learn those scales, you should then focus on changing scales during the song to match the dominant chord during a specific set of measures. That sounds confusing, but check out the Don Julin vid that someone posted earlier.

    I mainly play in first position, but lately I've been focusing on the Bluegrass Box to be able to move up the neck.
    Being right is overrated. Doing right is what matters.

    Northfield F5S Blacktop
    Pono MND-20H

  28. The following members say thank you to gspiess for this post:


Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •