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Modal Pentatonics
(25 Aug 05)
Some licks and conclusion
Now let's get back to our modal pentatonics and the patterns I gave you. I strongly recommend to stick to one or two patterns at first, and explore these new sounds thoroughly before you go through the process of learning a whole bunch of new patterns for these pentatonics.
(Once you wanna get into that, it might be a good idea to draw the patterns onto a piece of paper, and compare them to the pentatonic patterns you already know. Sometimes, there's only a small change required to turn a pattern of the major pentatonic into a pattern of a modal one. And keep in mind that the Dorian pentatonic and the Phrygian one have the same notes as some minor pentatonics (i.e. D Dorian Pentatonic = D minor, E Phrygian Pentatonic = E Minor Pentatonic)
So let's stick to the ones I showed you above, and see what we get.
I decided to not give you a bunch of licks or anything, and instead encourage you to try to really improvise and play melodically using those pentatonics, as they should be considered more than just a few patterns to shred on.
So use chord progressions like the ones above and try to create something musical, use those pentatonics to create melodies and create interesting sounds.
Also, you can apply a lot of the licks and sequences you used for the regular major and minor pentatonics and apply them to those modal ones... more on that in a sec...
This one, in F lydian, sounds pretty exotic to my ears, a bit Vai-like, and sounds very lydian... try using it over the "lydian chord progression".
This next one is exactly what I mentioned above: a regular sequence (see my scales workout articles for a closer explanation on and more examples for sequences applied to pentatonics). This one is the "2 down, 1 back up" sequence that you have heard a bunch of times. When applied to the G mixolydian pentatonic, it results in quite a different sound...
Here is a pedaltone-style lick utilizing tapping, played along the B-String. The scale I used is the B Locrian pentatonic.
Here is one of THE standard blues licks (pretty much everyone knows it), applied to the F lydian pentatonic (bar 1) and the G mixolydian one (bar 2). Using different modal pentatonics over changing chords might be a good introduction for soloing based on chords, adjusting to each chord. So try playing bar 1 over an F Major chord, and bar 2 over a G major one...
Here is the final example. It again utilizes playing along one string, which is a good way to "see" the degrees and intervals of any given scale physically. This one is a bit Vai-ish again, as it involves sliding up and down between the notes along the string. I again used the F lydian scale.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, I didn't intend to give away too many licks, as I think that the whole subject is enough to swallow for now (especially if you haven't heard of modal pentatonics before).
And once again, I recommend you experiment a lot and play around with these sounds. If you have tried using modes before, this might be a refreshing change. If you haven't, this might be a good introduction to the topic before you get into the "full" modes.
Those modal pentatonics are a great way to get some interesting (modal) sounds even though you're technically simply using notes from the plain major scale (while leaving out others).
I hope you enjoyed this one, and I hope it was interesting for you...
HERE is the ptb-file for this article.
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Eric started playing the guitar at age 10. He attended GIT and studied with Scott Henderson, Brett Garsed, Dan Gilbert amo. Eric is involved in several bands and recording projects and his instrumental debut - Hidden Creek - plus his instructional book Talking Hands - A Guide To Contemporary Lead Guitar Techniques is available HERE
Visit his website at www.ericvandenberg.net
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