Pentatonic Scales (part three)

   As we've seen over the past few weeks, the Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales are pretty important to know. They're like a certain credit card company says, never leave home without them. However, like I said in the previous weeks, a Pentatonic Scale is simply a five note scale. Therefore, any scale made up of five notes would be classified as Pentatonic. And since in Western Music we have a total of 12 notes (A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#), that leaves us with quite a few possibilities. Actually,there are many more Pentatonic Scales used throughout the World which have nothing to do with Western Music......

From the end of September through October 2001, I traveled through Indonesia with nothing but a Guitar and a Backpack. It was there, on the island of Bali, that I was able to participate in a cool, musical, cultural exchange. While sitting at the local Warung having a meal, I met up with some local guys that happened to have a Guitar with them. After chatting for a few minutes, we began to talk about music which led to me scribbling an E minor Pentatonic Scale on a napkin for them. In return, one of the guys showed me the Balinese Scale.

The example below is the G Balinese Scale. While it's usually played on pitched percussion instruments associated with the Gamelan, it can be played on any pitched instrument. It's made up of the notes G B C D and F# (or Root, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th) - kind of like an abbreviated G major scale. Play the scale slowly up and down and experiment with your own fingerings. Then close your eyes while you listen to the notes resonate and imagine you're in sitting above the rice terraces, sipping a strong cup of coffee.

Tune in next week for the next installment of Have Guitar Will Travel.

Pentatonic Scales (part two)

   Hopefully last week's opener and example of the Minor Pentatonic Scale was useful. Chances are however that if you already play Guitar, it's nothing new to you. And it's undoubtedly something you're heard hundreds of times before. But, it's really only the beginning. Like I said in last week's post, a Pentatonic Scale is simply a five note scale. While the Minor Pentatonic Scale is probably the most commonly used of these scales, there are many more. Take for example, the Major Pentatonic Scale.

  The Major Pentatonic Scale is of course another five note scale but with a twist ; it sounds a little happier, sweeter. Typically in music, we associate Major with a "happy" sort of sound and Minor, with a "sadder" kind of sound. Whether it be chords, scales, or arpeggios, this is generally the case. And, it's no different with our Pentatonic Scales.

  What's great about these scales, regardless of which one you use, is that they are versatile. The Major Pentatonic Scale is used by Jazz players like Pat Metheny, Blues players like BB King, and Country players like Brad Paisley. And if you've heard Traditional Chinese melodies like The Bamboo Flute, it's used there as well. The example below is an A Major Pentatonic Scale. The notes in it are: A B C# E and F# (or Root, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th). Practice and memorize the example. Then see if you can play it both ascending and descending. If you really want to get a handle on it, ask your Guitar Teacher about the Five Positions of the Pentatonic Scale.

  Tune in next week for Have Guitar Will Travel's  next installment of Pentatonic Scales. This one will be a little different.

Pentatonic Scales (part one)

  When I started playing guitar as a teenager, there was a veritable mountain of Classic Rock tunes that I wanted to learn. I felt if I could play just like David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, or Hendrix....well, that would be it. What else does one need in life?  And the one thing that they all seemed to have in common, was they all played amazing lead Guitar. That's what I wanted to do too. No.......had to do. 

However, I had one problem - I had no idea what these Guitar heroes were doing. I knew it was Guitar, I knew I liked it, but it seemed more like magic to me than anything else. Eventually, my parents, tired of listening to my feeble attempts at teaching myself Guitar, decided to get me Guitar Lessons.

I don't remember exactly when it was, but early on in my lessons I learned the Pentatonic Scale. And I quickly realized that even though I didn’t instantly sound like my heroes, I was getting a lot closer to figuring this stuff out. What is a Pentatonic Scale you ask? Only the easiest and most versatile scale ever devised!

A Pentatonic Scale is simply a five note scale. Some are more commonly used than others, but any configuration of five notes could be considered a Pentatonic Scale. It can be used in everything from Rock, to Country, to Jazz, to Traditional Chinese Music. On Guitar, it’s one of the easiest scales to finger. Sold yet? How about this: want to play Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd? How about Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd? Or how about a Brad Paisley tune? Knowing Pentatonic Scales can lay down the foundation of learning how to play lead Guitar in these different idioms.

Below is an example of the A Minor Pentatonic Scale. It's made up of the notes: A C D E and G (or Root, b3rd 4th, 5th, and b7th). It has a slightly dark yet open sound to it. Go ahead, give it a try and commit it to memory. It’s not magic and will not transform your playing overnight, but it will get you a lot closer.  Tune in next week for Have Guitar Will Travel's  next installment of Pentatonic Scales.

An Experience in Musical Creation by Ney Mello

The musicians who can transform me are always poets, not virtuosos, or shredders.  I simply don't like shredding and virtuoso culture since it is not related to musical transcendence. This may seem contradictory coming from someone who is a virtuoso and who plays with virtuosos. There is difference between virtuosity and cold tedious technical display. Those who reach my soul may or may not be "sick" technically but their are always "sick poets!"

But I can understand why to most guitarists who have not experienced technical freedom yet, who are still trying to play what they would like to be able to play, shred culture is so pervasive.

But virtuosity per se, never was interesting to me since I was a little boy...only music mattered....the full experience...and that includes being a virtuoso, but only as a tool, so one can experience music completely.

Being technically incompetent is very limiting if one desires the full experience, but being a shredder and   technique worshipper is also much worse as it becomes an egotistical  perversion, that cuts one off the musical realms of absolute bliss. 

Furthermore, in my experience, the worse perversion and comical self-delusion of grandeur is to be an intellectual theorist and ideologue in art. Poets do not separate themselves from art in this way. In fact any artist cannot exist if he separates himself from absolute art  in this way.  

So, to me it is very simple: Be a poet. Be music. Learn all you can theoretically and master it as a tool, and never think that the tool is a definition of music or formula for fabricating what cannot be fabricated intellectually.

In this way you will be free to experience the absolute.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ney_mello