Getting out of the pentatonic box

[sylvanshine]

Last night I was jamming over an E7 trying to get out of a pentatonic rut I'm in. I was having some fun in E major pent, E minor pent, A major pent, B major pent. Also minor pent licks 1/2 step above or below for resolution purposes.

It worked and reminded me that sometimes it's good to try other scales, wouldn't you agree? :)

[tom]

if i knew some scales, i would love to use them. unfortunately i have no idea what i'm doing. i hate it when people say" that was cool! what was it?" i have to give the dumb grin and say" i have no idea."

[brian b]

if i knew some scales, i would love to use them. unfortunately i have no idea what i'm doing. i hate it when people say" that was cool! what was it?" i have to give the dumb grin and say" i have no idea."
Scales, ain't that what is in the bathroom. :rolleyes:

[dkaplowitz]

Yeah, there's a lot you can do with pentatonics. Also, over dom chords it's pretty limitless what you can do with the right rhythm and phrasing.

Try these over your E7 jam: A harmonic minor (A minor with a #7, or G# instead of G) and F melodic minor (F major with a flat 3, or A flat instead of A). Try these scales while you're transitioning from one more standard minor blues sound to another. They're two of my favorite sounds over dom chords.

Don't blame me if you get beat up after the local open mic blues jam for trying these sounds out though. ;)

[kirby323]

I'd give you similar suggestions for playing over the dom chord (if I could only translate what the heck he was saying :D , I'm more along Tom's line). Although I have studied the various scales I have a heck of a time remembering them, or even worse, pulling them out of the hat when you want 'em.
Up here though, north of the 49th, we paly a lot of eh flat....... (sorry).

Cheers,
Mark

[dannopelli]

After many years of trying to figure out what scale to play where, I finally got a great suggestion from a friend...

Learn chords. Learn the different ways to figure them in different places on the neck. Learn as MANY fingerings as you can, but set a stretch goal to learn seven ways to play each type of chord. Then try to learn at least three substitues for each chord. C#m7 for Amaj7. Bb7#5 for E9. Or a Amaj11 or A 6/9 for Amaj7. Obviously there are many more than the few here, but its a good start.

Then when soloing, picture chord shapes, or the sub shapes, and use those notes.

What "sounds" cool is the off color note that you pass through. This is especially true over the dom chords, but it is useful on the other often overlooked chords.

In a short time you will develop a sense of where those notes are. Plus since you will tend to be playing along with more and more arpeggio shapes you will sound more musical. He pointed out that our memories tend to work better this way.

It worked for me anyway. :D