Hi Ari!! Your 5 pentatonic shapes lesson has had a major impact on my playing. Fills are easier, the fretboard makes more sense and feels connected. And I have a framework for soloing. I cannot thank you enough. But I have a question. do you have a similar approach for a five-string bass? I feel like I should probably be able to figure it out but can’t seem to. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Sure thing, happy to help! Good questions get blog post answers. I will start with what David is referring to and then answer his question. Let me unpack this a bit…
My philosophy about teaching theory to bassists and other instrumentalists and improvisers is: use shapes. There are many ways to conceptualize music via shapes: shapes fingers make on the fretboard, auditory shapes, letters and numbers (theory shapes!), and visual shapes (patterns on the fretboard). On the bass, they represent in beautifully symmetric patterns on the fretboard or notes on a staff. In this post, I focus on visual shapes on the fretboard.
Modo Bass 2
Now, reading is important too, and I am certainly not saying to skip that- but it may not be the best place to start. Here is why: most bassists already know a lot more theory than they realize if they’re already playing songs. Major pentatonic? My Girl (guitar line). Minor pentatonic? Play that Funky Music, Sir Duke, Master Blaster…
To tell you to forget all you know and hunker down with a book that teaches‘every good boy does fine’ on page 1 followed by pages and pages of scales and arpeggios always struck me as highly counterproductive. Learning to read is quite complex on the bass – because you can find any given note in multiple places on the fretboard – so it makes better sense to use a system and a method that makes it more economical. I think it is much better to build on what you already know – namely shapes on the fretboard. Decode those, give them names (scales and arpeggios, ie theory!), practice systematically and you have a powerful tool at your fingertips. Then reading becomes much easier: you will recognize the theory shapes as “chunks of information” on the staff and be able to easily translate them onto the fretboard – especially if using consistent fingering! That’s why I’ve always looked to meet the student where they are at by recognizing they tend to know songs and shapes.
Early on, I appreciated the symmetric nature the pentatonic scales form on the bass fretboard. I overheard a guitar player say something about a “box” shape – I could immediately imagine what he meant – a symmetric fingering between two strings. I liked that term because it is very descriptive so I went all the way with it and labeled all the shapes with equally illustrative nicknames (see below). And with that, I had one great way to play and organize pentatonic scales all over the fretboard!
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The truth about Pentatonics is that sometimes players use them quite incorrectly. They often go diagonally up the neck in order to keep – to use my terminology – “little boxes “ with easy fingering… and they do so with little awareness of where the key center is and with more “generosity” than sounds right as for the notes themselves (meaning, “fudging it a little”).
If you’d like to get the notes right and be able to play these shapes up and down the neck on any given two strings, diagonally in ever so many ways, and comfortably within one position, check out my five pentatonic shapes below. They form the starting point for many exercises. Some of these I taught in countless classes including on Scott’s Bass Lessons, my Talking Technique series on notreble, and on TrueFire where I published an entire course on the topic called Pentatonic Playground for Bass.
“ exercises using the “Big Box – Little Box” pattern. These exercises are not only highly educational but also a favorite with my students who want to start creating their own grooves and fills using theory shapes.
Major Scale Pentatonic Positions On Bass Guitar
I do these exercises with players of all levels. They are fairly easy technically – because they use only two notes per string they are perfect for beginners while they offer countless possibilities for cool sounding licks and fills for players of all levels to enjoy.
In my upcoming book, “The Pattern System for the Bass Player” you will learn much much more about this.You will also solve the flummoxing question of why there is no Pattern IV (did you notice that in the above diagrams? Not a typo!)
As you can see, for almost all shapes you just add two notes on the low B string and the fingering falls right into place. The only change is Pattern II (“The Boot”) which you conceptualize differently between the four-string version (starting with 2!) and the five-string variety (starting with 1!). While on four-string no shifts are every required for pentatonic shapes, a shift is required for the five-string “boot” which now turns into a symmetric shape (that needs a memorable name, by the way!). There you have two options,
Pentatonic Scales Images, Stock Photos, 3d Objects, & Vectors
This option has the advantage that your hand keeps its shape during the shift. The disadvantage is you need to have a “good aim” as you shift keeping your hand’s form:
Here you make your hand comprise only 3 frets momentarily before fanning back out into a one-finger-per-fret position. The disadvantage is that you have to change the shape of your hand for a second but the advantage is that you absolutely do not have to look at your fretboard – a great option for reading. In my upcoming book, this movement has a name. You will also learn more about combining the shapes for diagonal movements or moving up and down two strings at a time.
And, thanks for the great question, David! The Pentatonic scales (major and minor) are such an integral part of music bassists often play – there are so many instantly recognizable tunes based on these ubiquitous scales. Here are just a few examples:
Key Of C Major 4th/5th Fret Position On Bass Guitar
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This chart shows the pattern of notes moving across the fretboard on a bass guitar in the Key of C Major. The C note is the root of C Major, and is shown in red. When playing C Major in the 4th/5th position, it is common to play notes on the fifth fret with the first finger. Notes on the sixth fret are played with the second finger, notes on the seventh fret with the third finger, and notes on the eighth fret with the fourth finger. The notes on the first string can be played by shifting the first finger to the fourth fret, allowing the B (on the fourth fret) to be played with the first finger, the C (on the fifth fret) to be played with the second finger and the D (on the seventh fret) to be played with the fourth finger. Patterns around root notes are powerful tools to know. Practice playing positions as a warm-up before rehearsing. Learn to walk your fingers up and down the scales fluidly. Always play through keys slowly and solidly at first, before trying to sprint up and down as fast as you can. Learn where the roots are in each position, and learn to hear which note you are on in a Major Key as you play it. Can you call out each note as you play it? Try it. With regular practice you will be able to hear when you are on a root of the key and more, just have patience with yourself.
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This section of charts shows the notes in the Key of C Major (which are the white keys on a piano). These notes are the natural C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Sharps and flats are represented on a piano with black keys (a single key on a piano equals one fret on a bass guitar). Note that there is no sharp or flat between a B and a C, and an E and an F (on a bass this would mean there are no frets between the notes). This fact is easier to learn on piano (where it may seem obvious) than it is on guitar (where frets are neither black nor white, but all a bit
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