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Day 2: Using Creativity to Improvise and Make Music


Danny

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Hello again, everyone!

I hope yesterday's refresher was simple, but served as a good reminder of our pentatonic scale. Honestly, the issue of our pentatonic scale always sounding like an exercise vs. music is something I hear far too often. Here's a quick video to get your brain and hands going on ways to take that simple scale and begin making music with it. Try some of these ideas out yourself, mix up the note order, and just have fun with it.

As for tomorrow, we'll take these refreshers and turn up the volume a bit. Get ready for an awesome ADVANCED lesson on taking your pentatonic to the next level. Until then, enjoy!

Here's the backing track!

Thanks and I'll see you tomorrow,
Dan Williams

PS - I've attached the tabs from yesterday's scale as well!

A. pentatonic.pdf

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  • Ryan Withrow changed the title to Day 2: Using Creativity to Improvise and Make Music
9 hours ago, Danny said:

Hello again, everyone!

I hope yesterday's refresher was simple, but served as a good reminder of our pentatonic scale. Honestly, the issue of our pentatonic scale always sounding like an exercise vs. music is something I hear far too often. Here's a quick video to get your brain and hands going on ways to take that simple scale and begin making music with it. Try some of these ideas out yourself, mix up the note order, and just have fun with it.

As for tomorrow, we'll take these refreshers and turn up the volume a bit. Get ready for an awesome ADVANCED lesson on taking your pentatonic to the next level. Until then, enjoy!

Here's the backing track!

Thanks and I'll see you tomorrow,
Dan Williams

PS - I've attached the tabs from yesterday's scale as well!

A. pentatonic.pdf 37.01 kB · 31 downloads

 

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10 hours ago, Danny said:

Hello again, everyone!

I hope yesterday's refresher was simple, but served as a good reminder of our pentatonic scale. Honestly, the issue of our pentatonic scale always sounding like an exercise vs. music is something I hear far too often. Here's a quick video to get your brain and hands going on ways to take that simple scale and begin making music with it. Try some of these ideas out yourself, mix up the note order, and just have fun with it.

As for tomorrow, we'll take these refreshers and turn up the volume a bit. Get ready for an awesome ADVANCED lesson on taking your pentatonic to the next level. Until then, enjoy!

Here's the backing track!

Thanks and I'll see you tomorrow,
Dan Williams

PS - I've attached the tabs from yesterday's scale as well!

A. pentatonic.pdf 37.01 kB · 40 downloads

Great to see an example of how much flavour you can get with just the first box of the A minor pentatonic scale. Thanks very much Dan.

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I have a question on bending notes. If I am playing in a pentatonic scale and i want to bend a note (call it my destination note), should I:

a) Play my destination note and bend it up out-of-scale then release back in-scale again

b) Play an out-of-scale note one semi-tone below my in-scale, destination note, and bend it up into that correct note

c) Choose an in-scale note 2 semitones below my destination note and bend it up 2 semitones into that note.

?

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Greast track, just found out using pentatonic ex A-minor for playing C-majorsongs. Sounds pretty cool in my ears. Must tell you all that this old trasher,60 years old, really really feel renarcable progression day by day. It's a kind of magic to me because I've not got an inch better for say 25 years. And it's not about scales, moods, frases and so,all that I'm very familliar with,but it's about the thinking around guitaring. I'm bit for bit putting all these fragments together and even getting some selfconfiedence. It's so funny,nice and enjoying playing right now. Thanks for new inputs.

Blessings from Sweden.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/1/2022 at 10:34 PM, Chris777 said:

I have a question on bending notes. If I am playing in a pentatonic scale and i want to bend a note (call it my destination note), should I:

a) Play my destination note and bend it up out-of-scale then release back in-scale again

b) Play an out-of-scale note one semi-tone below my in-scale, destination note, and bend it up into that correct note

c) Choose an in-scale note 2 semitones below my destination note and bend it up 2 semitones into that note.

?

Yes. Then, come up with d) through z). Keep the ones you like, and put down the ones you don't. Anything goes. Use your ears... They'll tell you.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not only was this very informative, BUT, I just happen to be working on some BB King licks, and the bending was one of the things I wanted to improve on. Your video shows a clear scenario in how to approach the bend and it was very helpful to me. 

And that Backing track is the bomb. So much fun. Thank You

 

PS - I was looking at that exact PRS, I ended up purchasing a "Transparent Blue" Standard SE. 

Great guitars. 

Glenn

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