Pentatonic Scale Saxophone Pdf
Sherley
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Several years ago (as I realized, that after all those years, I could finally play 5 different pentatonic scale modes from any note without breaking too much of a sweat), I came up with this X-Centric pentatonic exercise. For example, it breaks down like this:
Tips and Techniques from the pros PLUS free access to the Sax Lessons with the Stars archive - 10 years worth of interviews and exercises featuring the likes of David Liebman, Bob Mintzer, Ben Wendel, Bob Reynolds, and many more!
After teaching over 10,000 students, I have found the fastest way to learn pentatonic scales is by combining scale practice with pattern practice and improvising practice. Another way to say this is learning the scales, putting them into action in practice patterns, and then getting used to blending those patterns into your own solos.
I have learned more in the last month working with you than I have for the past two years on my own! Many kudos to you for the sax lessons and especially the pace of each lesson segment. Perfect for me!
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This article is the second part of a series dedicated to the use of pentatonic scales in jazz improvisation. In the first article we talked about improvising over a chord derived from natural major scale harmony using the pentatonic major scale that begins on the Vth degree of the associated major scale. If you didn't read the first part, now is the time:
As mentionned in the previous article (part 1), there are 3 different pentatonic scales that are included in major scales, beginning on the Ist, the IVth and the Vth degrees of the scale. But what about the melodic minor scale?
In the previous article, we learnt how to use pentatonic scales over major scale harmony and this can be adapted to melodic minor scale harmony. This time it's easier as there's only one pentatonic per scale, the one beginning on the IVth degree:
In jazz tunes, we sometimes come across minor tonic chords. Warning: all minor chords aren't tonic chords (for example subdominant chords are often minor 7th chords). Over minor tonic chords, we can use the 1st mode of the melodic minor scale. We often refer to this chord as a minor-major" chord because it contains both a minor third and a major seventh. When it comes to the relative pentatonic, according to our rule, we can use the pentatonic beginning on the IVth degree of the associated melodic minor scale. So over an A minor-major chord, we can play D pentatonic:
This pentatonic scale is made up of the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the root and the ninth of the chord! If you mulled over pentatonic scales after reading the first article, you may have noticed that over a minor subdominant chord, such as Am7 the rule explained in the first article also leads us to D pentatonic (the Vth degree of G major scale). So generally speaking, it's easy to find the appropriate pentatonic scale for minor chords. Only Aeolian minor chords have a different associated pentatonic scale (which is... G of course).
Now, we come to the most interesting use of pentatonic scales. Over dominant chords (where tension is highest), there are many different approaches in terms of improvisation. Using pentatonic scales is one. In jazz, some modes are often used over V chords. Using the example of G7, let's apply the rules we've learnt to find the pentatonic scales we could use.
The simplest, and least tense, mode is the mixolydian mode. It corresponds to the fifth mode of the natural major scale, which we explained in the previous article, therefore over G7 we can improvise using G pentatonic. We are in C major and G is the fifth of C, so the rule leads us to G pentatonic.
It's still the G pentatonic scale. So in our pentatonic system, it means that we can't really differentiate the dominant lydian color from the mixolydian since we are playing the same pentatonic scale. It's a bit sad if you like the dominant lydian mode! But the good news is that we can play the same pentatonic (and it will sound good) whilst the harmonic section (pianist, guitarist...) plays G7#11 or straight G7 mixolydian in their voicings.
D flat is the tritone of G so for a little mental shortcut, I call it the pentatonic of the tritone. What is really awesome with this pentatonic scale is that it contains all the interesting alterations from the altered mode, so we can play it and have quite an "out" sound, while avoiding the trap of chromatism. Try it over different dominant chords to understand how it sounds.
I really like this pentatonic scale, but I play the piano (nobody is perfect...) so I'm lucky to have the complete control of the harmony, I can adapt the voicing under the pentatonic. Easy! If you have any doubts, talk with your musicians.
The bebop players among us are already wondering... and the Vb9 chords? If you like the colour of the duo flat ninth/perfect thirteenth, I'm sorry, you won't find a pentatonic that works. In this case the best is to stick to the half-whole diminished scale, which does not contain a pentatonic. Maybe I'll write an article on it someday!
After the theory, let's get down to practising. Let's take a tune and see what kind of pentatonic scales we can play over all the chords. I advise you take jazz standards and do the same exercise and playing only pentatonic scales over every chord. You will have a better understanding of how they sound.
Let's do a quick analysis of those sixteen bars. The tune is in F major tonality. It modulates to C major then to B flat major, goes back (very quickly) to F major, then to C major for the last line, and finally goes back to F major. There are three tonalities, so with everthing we have learnt, we can expect to play at least the three pentatonic scales associated with these tonalities:
In my example the F13 chord is expressed as an altered chord (for the chorus only), like the A7 chord in the previous line. We can use the pentatonic of the tritone. We can play B pentatonic over an F7 chord: so much tension!
In the last line, we go back to C major tonality. We can play the G7 chord as altered (just as in line 2) but in the melody, the chord is mixolydian, non altered. We could stay on this colour however, I then chose to alter the chord in the second bar to add some tension. Plus it creates some very nice parrallel movement between D flat pentatonic and C pentatonic.
Try to use a play-along and play this tune (and others) using only pentatonic scales. The effect is very interesting and creates a more spacious feel. And once you know all 12 pentatonics and you know which chords to play them over, you can improvise with any tune. Be careful though, don't overdo it! If you play pentatonics everywhere, every single time, it will probably become a bit boring. But it's a very nice addition to your vocabulary!
Back to the image: The second and third lines introduce you to a basic exercise that will help you start getting your fingers around the pentatonic b6 scale. It would be most helpful if you had some kind of accompaniment sounding the chord when you work on this pattern. You want to internalize the sound of the chord-scale relationship, not just the technique.
Ill play the D blues and apply the Dminor pentatonic scale to the blues.
The notes are D F G A C D
To get the scale in your fingers and ears and down to the saxophone you should definitely play the scale over the whole range of the horn.
From low D to the high F and back to the low D
The next exercise is playing the pentatonic scale from every step of the pentatonic scale from the D going 7 notes up and back to the D. Continuing from the F and 7 notes up and back. repeating this from every step of the scale.
To play the blues you also need the form of the blues. I made a very simple blues scheme to practise on.
I use only the first, fourth and the fifht degree of the blues. First degree D7, fourth G7 and fifth degree A7.
The first chord is a D7 chord, then follows a G7, then two times D7.
In the 5th and 6th bar you find two times a G7 chord and there after in the 7th and 8th bar we have again two times D7.
The 9th and 10th bar we have the A7, in the 11th bar we have the D7 and ending in the 12th bar with a A7.
You can practise the form by only using the roots of the chords. Play the roots for four beats each follying the progression of the form
When you have gotten used to the roots of the chords playing them without music you should try applying music, pick a simple playalong track of the blues.
You can of course change the ocatve of the root. Try to improvise with what octave you play the root in.
I play the following round written down and there after I improvise two rounds woth playing the roots in different octaves.
With this exercise i can explore the different sounds of the roots in different octaves and i can learn the how the chords of the blues move. Play these exercises intensly to learn this by heart, when you improvise you do not have time to check papers, the music has to come directly from your ear and be channeled directly to your saxophone.
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