THEM CHANGES
Andy G Jones of the London College of Creative Media begins a new series looking at intervals and chord tones and how to use them musically.
This month we’ll extend the use of the Minor Pentatonic with two more superimpositions. Remember to note the distance between the root of the chord you’re playing over and the root of the superimposed Pentatonic scale - this creates a formula that can be used in all keys. It’s also important to note the extensions or chord degrees that are generated by these superimpositions, as this will help gauge the degree of tension created.
In these examples, I have mostly crafted lines using the superimposition, sometimes returning to the more expected Pentatonic or a chord tone approach for the last few notes to give a sense of consonance. In real world applications, you might want to evenly balance the use of the superimposed scales with the more obvious choices. Another way is to weave between the two approaches.
You could create a line that has four notes of one then four notes of the other. This would generate some quite unexpected intervals. Ultimately, you must trust your ear to tell you whether your approach is working.
Bb Using C Minor Pentatonic over minor gives the bright sound of the 9th (C) and
Eb). Major 6th (G) with the 11th too ( Try C
Db
Minor Pentatonic over Maj 7 - this gives a super bright Lydian sound (#11) - jazzy but not too dissonant. In these examples I’ve added bends, slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs.This is more like the way we’d normally articulate our solo lines since, if we were to pick every note, it could end up sounding very mechanical.
The idea of superimpositioning Pentatonic scales over other tonalities, is to build a palette of sounds that get deeper into the changes. As is almost always the case, musical context will define the degree to which you’d use superimpositions - you might not want to play a C Minor Pentatonic
Dbmaj7 over sound were you called to do a session for a simple pop song, but on a fusion style track you just might.
NEXT MONTH Andy brings you another lesson looking at Pentatonic Superimposition
“The idea of superimposing Pentatonic scales over other tonalities, is to build a palette of sounds that gets deeper into the changes”