Pentatonic Archives
How to Add Soulful R&B Feel to Your Bass Lines with Slides and Grace Notes
Learn how to add soulful R&B feel to your bass lines using slides, grace notes, and major pentatonic moves. A simple way to bring life and expression to your groove.
The Perfect Major Pentatonic Bass Lesson: Learning Vince Guaraldi’s “Little Birdie”
If you’re looking for a fun groove to jam on and a way to dig into the major pentatonic scale, this lesson is for you. We’ll use Vince Guaraldi’s “Little Birdie” as our inspiration — it’s a lighthearted, soulful tune that perfectly captures how musical the pentatonic scale can be on bass. Let’s grab our instruments, get into the key...
How a Sponge and an 8-Bar Groove Capture That James Jamerson-Era Funk Bass Tone
Create a vintage funk bass tone using sponge muting in this 8-bar groove lesson with tone, rhythm, and technique tips.
Spice Up Your Pentatonic Playing with This Chromatic Bass Exercise
This bass lesson shows how to add chromatic flavor to the A minor pentatonic, unlocking more expressive, dynamic grooves with just a few added notes.
From Theory to Groove: How Interval Practice Makes Your Bass Playing Funkier
Master your bass fretboard with creative interval exercises. Build funky grooves and elevate your playing by exploring key interval positions and fills.
Talking Technique: Walk This Way To Great Bass Technique
The chorus of “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith features a cool pentatonic riff with slides that we can build on for cool-sounding variations. Buckle up for fretboard fitness, finger acrobatics, and rocking riffs!
Keep It Groovy: Learn The E Minor Pentatonic And Apply It To A Blues
In this “Keep It Groovy” lesson, Ryan Madora shows how to play the E minor pentatonic scale across two octaves, both ascending and descending. Then, she adds a bit of rhythm to the scale to create a simple yet effective bass groove.
The Brown’stone: New Pentatonic Shape – “The Ramp”
This week in The Brown’stone, Rich Brown has a great shape for you to use that perfectly compliments the minor pentatonic scale. It’s a shape that he calls “The Ramp.” It’s so simple, you’ll be adding this to your vocabulary in no time.
The Brown’stone: Making The Pentatonic Scale Sing
The Brown’stone is back, friends and neighbors! And this week, Rich Brown shares a great lesson all about making the most of your pentatonic scales.
Keep It Groovy: How To Play The Bass Line To Lady Marmalade
Today we’re keeping it groovy by learning the classic funk bass line to LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade.” Ryan Madora walks us through a simple part that perfectly outlines the harmony and creates a particularly memorable and easy-to-play bass line.
Keep It Groovy: How To Create a Groove Using The E Minor Pentatonic Scale
In this episode of “Keep It Groovy,” Ryan Madora shows us how to build a groove using the e minor pentatonic scale as our groove prompt. It can be extremely helpful to give yourself a starting point, both rhythmically and harmonically.
The Brown’stone: Play Great Fills and Solos Using Pentatonics
This week in The Brown’stone on No Treble, Rich Brown is staying with the Pentatonic Scale. This lesson will get you grooving and playing great fills using the three Pentatonic shapes he discussed in the previous lesson.