Knowledge Awaits

[RandyO]

I don't have a question, but I may have the answer.
The Lesson Lab door is now open. :D

[Tom Gross]

I don't have a question, but I may have the answer.
The Lesson Lab door is now open. :D
You probably do have the answer, man. :)

[DaveMetta]

It's hard for me to believe that this generous offer has been sitting out here for months without a Q? No one wants free knowledge? :eek:


Dave

[Aldwyn]

Question: How in the world do I get out of the major pent rut? I start to solo, and no matter what, I always seem to jump right into a major penatonic scale. Sometimes after the first couple of note... othertimes, after a phrase or two.

Peace,
Aldwyn

[Tom Gross]

Question: How in the world do I get out of the major pent rut? I start to solo, and no matter what, I always seem to jump right into a major penatonic scale. Sometimes after the first couple of note... othertimes, after a phrase or two.

Peace,
AldwynA few ideas (for example purposes, we're playing over A7):


- Play minor stuff from the minor key where the root is one string below the 7th chord, in other words, over A7, play E minor stuff, over D7, play A minor stuff. And I mean (in A7) move your hand up to the 12th fret and play all the Dorian, Santana type stuff you want. This will help get your head & hands out of too familiar territory.

- Play a diminished lick. Start with the root (A) and figure out some riffs that go up 3 frets at a time (like that thing in Elizibeth Reed). Throw some of that in there.

- Stay in the Maj pentatonic fingering and mindset, but throw in the "other" notes. This'll involve experimenting, but playing over some chords will help you find what works. Little chromatic runs help - this includes the other notes but you're not sustaining them, which risks you sounding "wrong". For example, (In A7):
--- the run down from the 6th to the 5th (B string, frets 7-6-5)
--- the run up from the 2nd to the 3rd (G string, frets 4-5-6)


- Try the minor stuff down three frets as well. In A7, try F#minor petatonic and dorian stuff.

- Don't bend so much. Slide into notes. Now you're playing jazz!

- Every time you play the 3rd (in A7, 6th fret G string, 9th fret E string) hit the fret below first, then quickly either hammer on or bend to the 3rd. Live in that magic Blues and rock area between those two notes.

- Pay attention to where you are in the chord sequence, and play outside at the right time. If it's been on A7 for a long time, and it's about to change chords, play the weirdest, funkest, stangest sh!t you can think of, then go into some of you regular stuff when the chord changes. For example, if it's a I-IV-V in A, blues or Rock, and it stays on the A7 for 4 measures, that last measure before it goes to D7, play some totally oddball stuff with all the wrong notes - But in the right rhythm. Then when it goes to D7 play A minor or D maj pent. stuff, it'll sound like Robben Ford or somebody. This is a hard one to practice, cause you have to practice over the sequence or it'll sound stupid.

- Collect every form of 7th, 9th, and 13th chord you can find, get used to them and use em. Then in a solo, finger one of them and just start picking up, down, or randomly but in a rhythm that's like a lead line not an "arpeggio". This works wonders.

- Don't worry about it so much. Yeah, Throw in some other stuff, work out some alternatives, but it's ok to use the Maj pentatonic as your base from which to work. You're supposed to be expressing yourself in your own style, and that's your style. So if you start out a solo reaching for it, don't get bummed, get into it. Expand on it. I spent years trying to "get out of the pentatonic rut", bored with my playing, etc. So I learned a little bit more. But when I play Blues in A, know where I'm heading? That's right, buddy, 5th fret, just like when I was 15.



**Note - I try to avoid theory talk in posts like this. So no "corrections" from any wiseacres. I get confused and find it less helpful when I ask a question and get something too long about how "The flatted 6th of the ii chord can be substituted for the Longtitudinal Mode, because it contains Bb, E#, and D, which is the flat 9th!!!! Isn't that Cool!!!!"

[Aldwyn]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions, Tom! I will give some of these a shot! I have actually tried some, but perhaps not long enough to get used to it, so I stop doing it. <shrug>

Either way, I need to print this out and give it a shot!

Thanks again!

Peace,
Aldwyn

[Adam]

This probably isn't the right place for it Tom, but I love your sig. I was sitting here wondering why it seemed so familiar to me, and then it hit me. :)

Entertainment media at it's best, I say.

[Tom Gross]

This probably isn't the right place for it Tom, but I love your sig. I was sitting here wondering why it seemed so familiar to me, and then it hit me. :)

Entertainment media at it's best, I say.
Thanks, man! I was waiting for somebody to get it, and you're the first. I dig "the only pacifist in town".
Entertainment media at it's best for sure! We got no love for Donald Love here, mon.:)

[RandyO]

It's hard for me to believe that this generous offer has been sitting out here for months without a Q?
No one wants free knowledge? :eek:
Free knowledge? Well, of course there is. The accuracy of the knowledge is something else entirely.
To enhance the answer you receive, please consider Paypal. :D

Just to be clear, I don't have all the answers. When I started this thread, I was the first person to post on The Lesson Lab. It was just a way to get things started. I saw Aldwyn's question about scales and knew that I didn't have the answer. I e-mailed my friend Tom Gross and asked him to give it a shot. I think he did a great job. Thank you Tom.

My original post was made on behalf of all BAM members with something to share or something to learn.