Pentatonic Education

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Orange Jam Improvisation Soloing over Changes www.LeviClay.com www.Facebook.com/Transcriptions www.youtube.com/missmisstreater

Written by Levi Clay Levi proudly plays Suhr Guitars  !icks "nte# Cables Wyres Strings $am !edals Wampler !edals With %dditional Thanks To Tom &uayle' &uayle ' (artin (iller ' %ndy $ames' $ames' %ndy Wood' Wood ' (artin Goulding' Goulding' (ichael )olce' )olce' (att Warnock and and the team at Guitar "nternational' "nternational' $ustin at *eck at *eck )iagrams' )iagrams' (ark Thompson at Shredknowledge'' $amtrackcentral Shredknowledge $amtrackcentral'' Live+Guitar ' $ason Wilding' ,ob Taylor' Taylor' Gary Cooper and the guys at iGuitar ' !hil Castang and all my -riends at "GF "GF'' inni inni Smith' $ean(arc du (ouchel' d 0oon' Luke Lewis' 1rian Shue' !aolo Castillo' Casti llo' ,obyn 2ennedy and everyone o- my clients clie nts and students -or allowing me to play the guitar -or a living







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The 8riginal solo Lesson ideos 9remember to watch in 65:5p; Lick 6 Lick 4 Lick < Lick + Lick = Contents

Lick 6 7 1bma>? 7 Gm@ 7 Lydian vs "onian.................. "onian...................................!age .................!age < Lick 4 7 Gm@ 7 bma>? 7 )orian Scale use...................................!age = Lick < 7 )? 7 1bma>? 7 (i#olydian Chromatics...........................!age ? Lick + 7 1bma>? 7 Gm@ 7 Chromatic !assing Tones..................... Tones.....................!age !age @ Lick = 7 )?9A66; 7 Lydian Lydian )ominant (ode..................................!age (ode...................... ............!age 66







Lick 1 – Bar 6 So as you may have taken -rom the contents page' the idea here is that weBre playing over a 1bma>? chord and as an improviser we have the choice to go -or various sounds over this. 0our 0our go to scale -or a ma>? chord is traditionally the "onian " onian mode 9the ma>or scale;' but in this instant "Bve opted -or the slightly more spicy lydian mode 1b "onian "onia n 7 1b' C' )' b' F' G' % , 4 < + =  ? 1b Lydian 7 1b' C' )' ' F' G' % , 4 < A+ =  ? This is nice because the backing track is hitting a 1bma>?' but by option -or lydian we can -ill that harmony out and imply a 1bma>A66. "tBs no secret that "Bm a DEG advocate o- the C%G) system along with the in depth study o- intevals and sound 7 "- youBre new to this' in a nutshell' it involves learning the neck in = shapes which all relate back to a chord -orm. The idea is that iyou can visualie a chord then you have every modal sound at your -ingertips. This particular lick -its around a 1bma>? chord in position < 9using the open C -orm;. 1elow we have that chord and the lydian scale in the same position. ,emember' when youBre playing these ideas you should always be able to see the chord -orm youBre playing -rom so when it comes time time to end an idea you can resolve to a strong sound.







8- course' running up and down a scale doesnBt make music' so weBre really looking at creating interest through syncopated rhythms and phrasing tools. $ust look at where the the -irst note is placed in the bar.

This creates a -orm o- motion and avoids the predictable practice o- starting licks on the beat. When you look at great improvisers such as Charlie !arker or Sonny ,ollins that idea o- starting licks on beat one and ending them at the end o- a bar is done away with' instead you are able to create long -lowing lines that transcend traditional rules.

These idea are continued throughout the lick as shown above. The -irst two beats place notes on the 4nd and +th o- each 6th note' in the later hal- o- the bar we avoid playing on beat < via a rest' and avoid beat + via a tie -rom the previous note. note. ,hythms like this -eel very natural to me now' but itBs come -rom a lot o- listening and practice. $ust do your best to listen to as many o- the great improvisers as you have access to and i- possible' study the scores. When you see tricks like this happening time and time again you realie the importance o- including it in your practice routine. To -inish the lick we resolve r esolve to our -amiliar minor pentatonic scale in Gm 9at the 6= th -ret;' this may seem like uite a crude resolution' but in reality " -ind my most bluesy phrasing is -ound in this shape so get up there and put a curl on that minor






Lick 2 – Bar 11 " chose this lick because it has a simple introduction to chromatic passing tones but also a more modern approach to phrasing whereby scales are approached -rom a more vertical approach as opposed to the more common con>uct movement you o-ten hear -rom guitar players. %s " mention in the video' v ideo' my goal is to get to Gm position + 9the %m -orm; as uickly as possible so " can play some more -lowing vertical lines. The diagram below shows you where we start' and where we would like to get.

To do this " move -rom our traditional bo# shape into shape =' -illing in the blanks blank s on the high  string with a chromatic passing tone 9indicated in the diagram above with a blue note; The main -ocus o- this lick is how many options we have within the pentatonic scale' and the results we get i- we approach it -rom a new perspective. The -act is' the pentatonic scale isnIt something something that >ust guitar players used' its its a scale ingrained in cultures all over the world and can be seen on everything -rom the trumpet to the violin. The guitar is one o- the only instruments who treat the scale as a series oscale tones as many other instruments use it as a source o- e#tracting arpeggios. When you look at the scale on the -retboard' itBs easy to see the physical demands o playing this scale vertically on the the guitar 7 there are a lot o- +ths which which means cleanly rolling -rom one string to another on the same -inger' same -ret. This is o-ten avoided by guitarists' but like any techniue techniue itBs nothing you canBt master with with regular practice. This will will open up a whole host o- new phrasing ideas' so so listen to sa#ophone maestro (ichael 1recker on a 1recker bros record to see what sounds lurk within this









%bove " have given you a basic way o- practising this across your pentatonic scale positions. The idea is is simple' >ust take two notes on one sting' then play a single note note on two ad>acent strings. When you look at the actual notes' you can see the rich shapes weBre creating in our lines when we play like this' and itBs such a tremendous departure -rom your stock Clapton licks. To really get the most out o- this idea' try coming up with ways o- navigating through the other = positions o- the pentatonic scale. When youBve spent some time on that' do the same but introduce some modal colours 7 introduce the @ th and the 6< th to really add some spice to your lines. For the more e#perienced players you can also get into the pentatonic substitution mindset and use scales -rom the root' = th and @th 9so Gm' )m and %m;' i- you use these in the same sa me place youBre mi#ing position +' 6 and <.

The above diagrams may initially appear con-using' but look closely and youBll see







Lick 3 – Bar 20 This lick is all about getting the most out o- a scale position. " think itBs only common sense that the more notes you have on a string' the uicker your -lurry o- notes can be' so when " need to kick it up a gear " like to -ill in the blanks and get more mileage out o- my stock shapes. Dere we start over our )? chord in position 6 9The  -orm;. "- " told you were playing a blues in ) the chances are that your -irst choice scale would probably be the minor pentatonic. %lthough this technically contradicts the chord 9because the scale contains a b<; " think we should embrace this scale' in -act 9as " say in the video; " think that over a chord like this youBve got lots o- options such as the mi#olydian scale' the tonic arpeggio' the minor pentatonic' the blues scale 7 you could think hal- whole diminished or lydian dominant or whatever. % long time ago " asked a -riend what he was thinking over a series o- changes and he simply said JLevi' there is only the chromatic scaleK' it took me a couple o- years to start to understand it. The point is' i- you play each note -rom the above scales 9which we agree sound good; youBre playing the chromatic scale. JThere are no bad notes' only bad resolutionsK







To give the lick something o- a more traditional bluesy -eel 9and 9 and to back up what " mentioned previously; " end this lick with a )m pentatonic -ragment. This is a huge part o- playing over a dominant chord -or me' but donBt think thatIs thatIs a reason to not know the mi#olydian scale' think o- di--erent scales as synonyms 7 reading a book would be stale i- they only ever used the term JgoodK to describe something they like' having options is the same as introducing JlovelyK' J-antasticK' JamaingK and Jbeauti-ulK.

%s you can see above "Bm thinking o- the second pentatonic shape 7 this is an o-ten overlooked aspect o- traversing the neck' but having limitless ways o- moving between positions can really get you out o- the same old licks. The last thing to note about this lick is' unlike lick 6' " end this lick at the end o- the bar then when the 1bma>? hits " avoid playing anything to give the listener some time to breathe a-ter bombarding them with so many notes.







Lick  – Bar 2! *ow weBre getting even more chromatic chromatic with some heavy embellishments embellishments around the pentatonic scale and arpeggios. %s " mention in the video this lick is really about understanding the relationship between our 1bma>? and Gm? chord. These two chords are in the same key 9diatonic; so we have the option to play notes -rom the same key centre. The uestion is what key are we looking at %s e#plained in the video we have two options  1bma>  1b' C' )' b' F' G' % 1bma>? 7 Cm? 7 )m? 7 bma>? 7 F? 7 Gm? 7 %m?b= or Fma> 7 F' G' %' 1b' C' )'  Fma>? 7 Gm? 7 %m? 7 1bma>? 7 C? 7 )m? 7 m?b= That could be a bit overwhelming' but itBs the di--erence between "onian/%eolian 9which is a very dark clashing sound; vs a Lydian/)orian sound 9which is a little sweeter in terms o- tonality;. To really get an idea o- the di--erence weBre talking here' try playing the two -ollowing scales over the backing track -or a bit and see which one you pre-er. ,eally -ocus on that +th/A+th and see which one you pre-er the sound o-.







The other part o- this lick is the resolution -rom the 1bma>? chord to the Gm?. " choose to resolve to position 6' but " need to get there -rom higher up on the neck. *ow as " mention in the video' video' "Bm going a little !at (artino here and treating the movement as a m? thing. This means " can treat both chords as G dorian and -ocus on how to integrate chromaticism to my lines. The downside to this means that you really need to know all o- your minor pentatonic 9or dorian; shapes.

So with the diagrams in lick 4 and the three above you should have all = pentatonic shapes to practice. This is really important i- you want to be -ree to roam around the neck 7 "- you donIt know these shapes then practice all = in the key o- Gm ascending and descending but my suggestion would be 7 get to know them starting -rom the high  string' this is where we actually play melodies' not down on the low  stringH 0ou donIt want to -ind yoursel- in a rut where you can only play a solo -rom the bottom o- a scale up. When youBve really got your head around these shapes you need to start to get to grips with where your additional colour 9scale; tones live and then how you can -ill in the blanks with the chromatic passing tones. %s you can see in the video' thereBs a lot o- chromaticism here but itBs important that









Lick ! – Bar 3 Dere we are' at the endH This is where " showcased my big love o- Scott Denderson and the melodic minor scale. 8ver a )? chord our obvious choice would be ) (i#olydian ,' 4' <' +' =' ' b? "nstead weBre going to use mode + o- the melodic minor scale' the Lydian )ominant scale ,' 4' <' A+' =' ' b? %s the name and intervalic structure suggest' this mode is the same as our Lydian mode' but with a dominant uality 9the b?; the result is a )?A66 sound which twists the ear more than any other options and adds a nice degree o- spice to our licks 9try resting on the A66H;.







The ne#t thing you can do with the Lydian )ominant scale 9or any new scale -or that matter; is to e#tract various triads and arpeggios to enable you to mi# it up and sound -resh. Start

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"tBs possible to create a myriad o- lines all with their own uniue -eel using >ust the triads above. %s " talk about in the video' " tend to be drawn towards the augmented triad as itBs the only triad -orm not -ound in ma>or scale harmony and it there-ore de-ines the sound o- the mode instantly. The augmented triad 9,'<'A=; is also a symmetrical structure consisting o- ma>or thirds 7 because o- this itBs also technically rootless 7 you can take one shape and move it up in ma>or thirds to get -ast moving lines try the -ollowing and see how great it sounds.

Pentatonic Education

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