by When it comes to learning and using the pentatonic scale for bass, how do most people do it?
If you’re like me or thousands of other bass players, at some point, you’ve probably sat down with some tabs, sheet music or scale shapes and just tried to learn your pentatonic scale that way.
Up and down, and up and down until the end of time.
Now this is a great way of getting familiar with new scales and new sounds at the start, but there’s a problem with this if you never get past it.
If you only practice scales in this way, then when it comes time for you to actually make music with a scale, what’s going to come out?
Nothing but exercises – up and down, and up and down…
And that’s just not musical at all! You also run the risk of failing to internalize the scales because you’ve learned them in isolation from each other.
This is exactly how a viewer named Sai felt when it came to the pentatonic scale for bass. Sai could play the scales in one position, but combining them and actually making music with them – that was a completely different story.
In this video though, I’ll share with you what I told Sai about how to ‘hijack’ the practice process and start playing the pentatonic scale fluidly all over your bass as well as combining all the shapes to start making actual music.
It’s a simple change, but one that makes playing scales so much more musical.
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Master The Pentatonic Scale Using My Pentatonic Scale Cheat Sheet
FREE - Download the 11-page cheat sheet for mastering your pentatonic scales and start using them fluidly all over your fretboard.
Whether you're making bass lines, creating solos or making up your own bass fills, using the pentatonic scale like this will help take your playing to the next level.
Get the notation, tabs and shapes across your entire bass so you'll always know exactly what to play
Once you know the basic shapes, it can be tempting to just play them all up and down the neck of your bass. You can even get pretty good at it, but that alone doesn’t make good music.
As you can see in the video though, just a tiny change in the approach to the pentatonics makes a huge difference in how they sound.
Instead of stiff and regimented, we’re actually getting some lines and melodies that flow naturally from one to the next. We’re also moving from one shape to the next effortlessly.
Plus – we’re using the whole fretboard; not just the parts of your bass that you might be comfortable with. It’s a dramatic change from just going up and down your scales…
If you’re serious about nailing your pentatonics, make sure to check out the Pentatonic Scale Cheat Sheet by filling in the form above. You’ll get the tabs and notation for the exercises from the video as well as the shapes for the pentatonic scale for bass. There are even bonus shapes that cover all the strings on your bass.
Check it out to start taking your pentatonic playing to the next level.
Good luck with the lesson and happy playing!
Cheers,
altijd leuk iets meer te vernemen over pentatonic scales
I left my name and email and it says, unknown response code. ‘Please resubmit the subscription code’
Hey Monica, I couldn’t find anything wrong on my end so I’ve resent your confirmation email. Let me know if it shows up in your email inbox.
I fail to see how this ties into a song, you don’t even mention what chord it is, I think you know your subject well but I feel like you need to slow a little and always give some illustration how to tie your lessons into a chord sequence in a song. Enjoy your lessons but wanted to point this out.
Thanks for the comment John. I’m not sure if you got to the 6:36 mark in the video, but I actually use the pentatonic scale over a song – a 12 bar blues form in the key of C. If the video was about where you can use the pentatonic scale, I would have gone into more detail about your options (they’re pretty much endless), but since Sai’s question was about combining and memorizing the scale, I focused on that.
If you have any specific questions about anything in the lesson, I’d be happy to answer them for you.
This is great, Luke. I’m happy to see that you’ve extended the scale to 4 strings on the PDF, although I was hoping you would go into that on the video. I can figure it out for myself, but I’d love to see you break down how to use it on a 5-string as well, since I’m in the market for one so I can take advantage of the low B.
Keep up the good work!
When I submit my info for the pentatonic hack, I get this message, “This e-mail address has previously been removed for flagging a message as spam/abuse. If you believe this to be in error, please contact the account owner.” I have no idea why.
Hey Greg – that’s strange. Have you ever been subscribed to the site before with the same email address?
No I never have. I recently found you on Youtube and have enjoyed your lessons and tips.
I tried with my gmail account and it went through okay. Thanks, Luke
That’s good to hear Greg. I guess the AOL address just wasn’t playing nice with the site. I’ll try and find out if it’s a problem I can fix
Hi Luke I have left user name and email address for your pentatonic hack and the chord shapes but have not received any emails from you. Your comments please.
Hey Peter – check your ‘spam’ folder just in case it’s gotten stuck in your email’s filter. It should be in there. If you drag it manually into your inbox, it should mean that everything else from me will get to you rather than ending up in the wrong place.
Hi Luke nothing as simple as that unfortunately; I do that as a matter of course but nothing received this end unfortunately mate. Its a shame as I loved the vids but the downloads would have been very useful. Any thoughts?
Hey Peter – I just checked my email provider and ran your email address through, and it said that it had zero record of it. I did find an address that was very similar, but had an obvious typo in it. I corrected it and resent the confirmation email. It should show up for you soon. Cheers!
HEY LUKE, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS PENTATONIC HACK. I’VE GOT IT BEFORE BUT NEVER SAW IT PRESENTED THE WAY YOU HAVE. I CAN SEE WITH A LITTLE PRACTICE MY JAMMING SKILLS ARE GOING TO QUICKLY IMPROVE. IF YOU EVER PASS THRU ROANOKE, VA, GIVE AN ADVANCE SHOUT TO MY EMAIL.
ALL THE BEST
Thanks for signing up! Go ahead and check your email address – the guide will be on it’s way soon….but it never comes
Thanks
JC
It looks like you haven’t confirmed your email address yet JC. Have you checked your spam or junk folders? If it hasn’t shown up after 10-15 minutes, have a look in those folders and you should find a message from me. Just confirm your email address and it’ll be sent to you automatically.
Cheers,
Luke
Hi Luke, I’ve tried to submit my email several time and it just doesn’t seem like it’s working. I would love to get the information on the pentatonic “hack”. Thanks.
Hey Stuart – have you checked your ‘junk’ or ‘spam’ folders? Sometimes the confirmation email gets routed there even though you specifically requested it. If it’s not there, just let me know and I can figure out what the problem might be.
JonLuke, Thank you very much for the instruction on the pentatonic scale. I am in my 70’s and pickup up my bass about a year ago, slow progress. i was wondering if there are tabs for the double notes and runs you do over the fret board. Somehow I do not have rhythm like you, and not really sure how you make it sound so good so smooth. I tried, and tried and cannot get it right.
or maybe is should start jamming and see what happens. ….it worked, I figured it out. im sounding better. Thanks again
Diego
Happy to hear you’re making progress Diego. I don’t have tabs for the specific things I play, but if there’s something you really like the sound of, try playing it for yourself. If you’re on a computer, try slowing the YouTube video down by clicking the gear in the bottom right, then selecting ‘Playback Speed’, then 0.5. It’ll make things half the speed so you can figure out how to play it for yourself!
Wow, thanks for all the instruction, i am moving up and down the fret board like you said, im sounding kind of country, i prefer more of a jazz sound, but im better and getting my note quality down. Your instruction is really good and thanks for the slow down tip. Im sure I will be using that alot.
Diego.
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