Warren's Scales

[You_Enjoy_Myself]

Alright, all you theory buffs out there, on Cortez the Killer on CP, what scale is Warren soloing in there? It sounds so cool, very Pink Floyd David Gilmour

[MWR]

Never heard it but I'm betting pentatonic/aeolian.

[You_Enjoy_Myself]

If you've never heard it, then what are you basing that on?????

And pentatonic major?? minor?? blues?? Pentatonic neutral???

[MWR]

If you've never heard it, then what are you basing that on?????

And pentatonic major?? minor?? blues?? Pentatonic neutral???

I'm basing it on the fact that 99% of the solos you hear in pop/rock music will be either major, minor, blues, or major/minor pentatonic.

I listened to the track and sure enough he's playing in mostly E minor pentatonic with a lot of Blue notes (flattened 5th) thrown in. He's also using notes from the natural minor as well.

What you have to understand is that in most cases the type of scale your playing is controlled by the chord progression your playing over. You can't jam whatever notes you want in there. I assure you how the notes are played and phrased is far more important than the scale being used.
It takes time to really grasp this concept but once you do it really sets everything off. It's like your brain catches up to your fingers.

The funny thing is you asked all the theory buffs. Almost anyone with a rudimentry understanding of theory should be able to anwer this question. I'm not trying to be a dick just illustrating the fact that this stuff gets monumentally more difficult so don't be intimidated by things that are simple. Too many people on these boards have theory phobia if you ask me.

[Davy28]

Whats natural minor?

[MWR]

It's just the basic minor scale. I call it natural minor or Aeolian to avoid confusion because there's actually three minor scales-Natural minor, melodic minor, and harmonic minor. Every other minor scale is, for the most part, based of of one of these scales.

[You_Enjoy_Myself]

If you've never heard it, then what are you basing that on?????

And pentatonic major?? minor?? blues?? Pentatonic neutral???

I'm basing it on the fact that 99% of the solos you hear in pop/rock music will be either major, minor, blues, or major/minor pentatonic.

I listened to the track and sure enough he's playing in mostly E minor pentatonic with a lot of Blue notes (flattened 5th) thrown in. He's also using notes from the natural minor as well.

What you have to understand is that in most cases the type of scale your playing is controlled by the chord progression your playing over. You can't jam whatever notes you want in there. I assure you how the notes are played and phrased is far more important than the scale being used.
It takes time to really grasp this concept but once you do it really sets everything off. It's like your brain catches up to your fingers.

The funny thing is you asked all the theory buffs. Almost anyone with a rudimentry understanding of theory should be able to anwer this question. I'm not trying to be a dick just illustrating the fact that this stuff gets monumentally more difficult so don't be intimidated by things that are simple. Too many people on these boards have theory phobia if you ask me.

Ok thanks MWR, I understand what you're saying. I just never learned a lot of scales, just the blues and major, and now I'm trying to branch out. I have a mid-level understanding of theory, i.e. keys, modes and some other things I learned a few years back in a music composition class, but the problem is that I was high most of the time and it has been erased from my memory banks.

[Davy28]

It's just the basic minor scale. I call it natural minor or Aeolian to avoid confusion because there's actually three minor scales-Natural minor, melodic minor, and harmonic minor. Every other minor scale is, for the most part, based of of one of these scales.

Thanks. I was like dammit, I thought I knew all the minor scales.

[MWR]

If you've never heard it, then what are you basing that on?????

And pentatonic major?? minor?? blues?? Pentatonic neutral???

I'm basing it on the fact that 99% of the solos you hear in pop/rock music will be either major, minor, blues, or major/minor pentatonic.

I listened to the track and sure enough he's playing in mostly E minor pentatonic with a lot of Blue notes (flattened 5th) thrown in. He's also using notes from the natural minor as well.

What you have to understand is that in most cases the type of scale your playing is controlled by the chord progression your playing over. You can't jam whatever notes you want in there. I assure you how the notes are played and phrased is far more important than the scale being used.
It takes time to really grasp this concept but once you do it really sets everything off. It's like your brain catches up to your fingers.

The funny thing is you asked all the theory buffs. Almost anyone with a rudimentry understanding of theory should be able to anwer this question. I'm not trying to be a dick just illustrating the fact that this stuff gets monumentally more difficult so don't be intimidated by things that are simple. Too many people on these boards have theory phobia if you ask me.

Ok thanks MWR, I understand what you're saying. I just never learned a lot of scales, just the blues and major, and now I'm trying to branch out. I have a mid-level understanding of theory, i.e. keys, modes and some other things I learned a few years back in a music composition class, but the problem is that I was high most of the time and it has been erased from my memory banks.

That will do it.

[grock]

It's kinda like how beethoven would write a little ditty, and then play it forward and backward and really fast and then really slow and then play it in a different key and just totally explore a phrase. that's one of my favorite ways to improv.

this kinda gets into modal thinking, but what i often do is approach each chord with it's scale. now you must take into account the key of the whole peice but if the progression has an Am in it, you can play A, C, E and even get jazzier with the rest of the scale, but you really gotta know the progression so you can tie it all together.

So basically, a pentatonic will cover you in most cases. it's like a macro solution. And you really can't go wrong in pentatonic. But thinking modal, you micro-manage each chord and explore a lot more possibilities. This can get you in trouble fairly easily, but music is an art. so you gotta use errors to your advantage.

[fatjack]

If you've never heard it, then what are you basing that on?????

And pentatonic major?? minor?? blues?? Pentatonic neutral???

I'm basing it on the fact that 99% of the solos you hear in pop/rock music will be either major, minor, blues, or major/minor pentatonic.

I listened to the track and sure enough he's playing in mostly E minor pentatonic with a lot of Blue notes (flattened 5th) thrown in. He's also using notes from the natural minor as well.

What you have to understand is that in most cases the type of scale your playing is controlled by the chord progression your playing over. You can't jam whatever notes you want in there. I assure you how the notes are played and phrased is far more important than the scale being used.
It takes time to really grasp this concept but once you do it really sets everything off. It's like your brain catches up to your fingers.

The funny thing is you asked all the theory buffs. Almost anyone with a rudimentry understanding of theory should be able to anwer this question. I'm not trying to be a dick just illustrating the fact that this stuff gets monumentally more difficult so don't be intimidated by things that are simple. Too many people on these boards have theory phobia if you ask me.

fuck yeah

the best part of that was "pentatonic neutral"