Fusing the Major pentatonic and the blues scale
Hello Dave,
I would like to ask you about something tha thas caught my attention on the Steve Baker's interview. Especially the part about improvising: https://www.bluesharmonica.com/steve_baker#TB_inline?inlineId=12303&heig...
There at the begining Steve talks about fusing the Major Pentatonic and the blues scales.
So I have tried to imagine how would that look like over the entire range of the harmonica (with the substitutes for the overbklows) and here is what I got:
+1 1' 1 +2 2" 2 3" 3' 3 +4 4' 4 +5 5 +6 6' 6 7 +7 8 +8 9 +9 10
So my question to you:
Would practicing going up and down that pattern make sense to you?
That in addition to practicing the scales separately?
I am still in a part of my studdies where I have barely touched improvising lessons, but I am parcticing scales on a regular basis iwth the idea that one day things would start flowing easier.
Still my music theory knowledge is rather limited, but from those 2 scales one is minor and the other is major, so I have been wondering how exactly I could approach fuzing the both and in what situations would this benefit me.
I hope my inquiry does not sound totally silly :)
Thanks in advance!
Thank you so much Dave for showing me the way!
Hello Angel.
It’s not silly to go down these thought experiment routs... they lead to greater understanding.
In my opinion, it is not helpful to practice the scale in that way. I find that it’s most useful to really learn the blues scale, and how to improvise within the scale (gleaning licks from your later studies, like “My Blues” or from artists such as Paul Butterfield).
Do the same for the major pentatonic scale.
Once you know how to do both well independently, then you’ll find it relatively easy to mix and match in your playing.
P.S., this is covered in the improvising series of lessons.