Jazz Vibes Lesson: Advanced Level Pentatonics!

Ah, the pentatonic scale. It's one of the best ways to start improvising - guitar players learn it almost immediately when they start improvising. But there is so much more to the pentatonic scale than just the five notes every learns at the beginning.

There are in fact many different types of pentatonic scales - in this video I explain 6 of them. They are:

1) The Major Pentatonic
2) The 'Flat 3' pentatonic
3) The 'Flat 2' pentatonic
4) The 'flat 5' pentatonic
5) the 'flat 6' pentatonic

I went through each of these and show you how they fit over many different chords.

I also demonstrated how you can use these concepts as applied to modal tunes like 'So What' (Miles Davis), or more slippery tunes - like 'E.S.P.' by Wayne Shorter.

Jazz improvisation is always about learning new ways to dissect the harmonic language, and pentatonics are a great way to organize your lines.

I've also included some technical exercises specific to the vibraphone, but you could of course try them on other instruments.

The Bobby McFerrin video I mention at the beginning is here:
   • Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power...  

You can find sheet music and jazz etudes at my website: http://www.timcollinsmusic.com

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I upload a new video every week (usually on Wednesday).

Enjoy and happy practicing!

-Tim