Intermediate Bass 11: Pentatonic Studies, Part 2
By Roy Vogt
Bass Instructor, Belmont University 		Print This Lesson
Roy Vogt.Now that you've had a month to get the Pentatonic Scales and Inversions under your belt, let's up the ante and play with 3 of them harmonically. Using these 3 scales over a major chord (in this case a G6 chord) adds some upper extensions. These are quite characteristic of Jaco's playing in Weather Report and on his first solo recording.

The first scale is a G major pentatonic. No problem here-the notes (GABDEG) spell out the G6 chord with the addition of a 9th (the A).

Now, we'll get a little more creative. By playing the Pentatonic off the 5th of G we get a D major Pentatonic. These notes (DEF#ABD) give us the 5th , 6th and 3rd of the G6, but also give us the 9th and the major 7th . This is also a sound favored by guitarist Larry Carlton.

Finally, we can use the Pentatonic off the 9th of the chord, which gives us the A Major Pentatonic. These notes (ABC#EF#A) give us the 3rd and 6th of the chord, but they also give us the 9th (A) the #11 (C#) and the Major 7th (F#).

By moving from the G through the D and finally to the A Pentatonic Scales on just the G6 sound, the soloist moves up the continuum (that's a nice Jaco-esque word) of the low chord tones to the upper extensions of the chord.

I wrote out a short 2 measure lick that combines all 3 pentatonic scales. Try locating the scales within this pattern. I played this as well as the 3 scales over a G6 vamp and then did some free improvisation using all 3 scales. Notice how the soloing moves from "safe" notes to notes with higher harmonic interest. This was also a gift from Jaco to the bass world, but as Stanley Clarke has pointed out: one of the first musicians to use this in a Jazz context was Saxophonist John Coltrane.

Have fun with learning this concept and then try it out on the G 6 Play-along with no bass.

Pentatonic Studies, Part 2

Peace and Low Notes,
Roy C. Vogt
Nashville Bassist
Bass Instructor, Belmont University, Nashville, TN

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