Dominatrix

[foxy1987]

Hey all,
First of all i would just like to say how awesome the creative rock columns in GT written by Shaun Baxter are-he is a pure genius! He has made it very clear in explaining that playing over static dominant chords can sound more exciting and original. I think it's refreshing to venture out and try different things on the guitar.
I have been looking at the Dominant Pentatonic scale article, where he demonstrates ways of using each of the five shapes of the dominant pentatonic scale and generating long ideas by moving laterally between the scales. They should be easy to learn as each shape fits around the dominant 7th chord shape and can be used as part of the CAGED system. What I want to know is- would you use this scale as a framework and build upon it to add more colour, (like you would the basic minor pentatonic) and add notes from other scales where you please. From the earlier article it was said that Lydian dominant and the mixolydian could be combined with it as they contain a dominant pentatonic framework. So would you memorise the shapes for the dominant pentatonic and then just know which degrees to add from the other scales mentioned to spice things up a little?

[musophilr]

Interesting question. When you learned minor pentatonics did you see them as a subset of (EG) the Aeolian scale, or did you see the Aeolian scale as a superset of the minor pentatonic? Whichever way it was, you ended up using the right notes. Maybe the same will work in this case.

[foxy1987]

I guess as I learnt the Aeolian mode first and then the Minor pentatonic I saw the latter as a child of the ‘parent’ scale extracting the typical pentatonic sound from it. When I’d be playing something with the Aeolian mode I could sneak bluesy phrases in the mix. On the other hand you could view the Pentatonic as being the basic framework on which to build on, choosing to add notes from different scales like the Dorian for example. What are people’s thoughts on this? Is it just best to recognise that certain scales have the (dominant) pentatonic framework so you have that safe option of returning to “base”?
Hope i've made myself clear.

[musophilr]

Originally Posted by foxy1987

I guess as I learnt the Aeolian mode first and then the Minor pentatonic I saw the latter as a child of the ‘parent’ scale extracting the typical pentatonic sound from it. When I’d be playing something with the Aeolian mode I could sneak bluesy phrases in the mix. On the other hand you could view the Pentatonic as being the basic framework on which to build on, choosing to add notes from different scales like the Dorian for example. What are people’s thoughts on this? Is it just best to recognise that certain scales have the (dominant) pentatonic framework so you have that safe option of returning to “base”?
Hope i've made myself clear.

IMO either way is an acceptable view point, especially if you are smart enough to recognise the alternative. It would be instructive to make a list of all the relationships between pentatonic scales and diatonic scales. For example the "Indian Scale"
(R 3 4 5 b7) is a subset not only of the Mixolydian but also of the Phrygian Dominant (the 5th mode of the Harmonic Minor). Richard Chapman calls it the Indian Scale in his book The Complete Guitarist - am I right in thinking that's the same thing as what you quoted Shaun Baxter (brilliant guitarist) referring to as "dominant pentatonic"?

I think you can make use of either approach in constructing music. For example you can set up a riff or groove using the Indian Scale for Intro, Verses & Outro, then start expanding on it using the Mixolydian for Choruses, and switch to the Phrygian Dominant for the Middle 8.

You can also do it the other way round: use one of the Diatonic scales to introduce your music, pare it down to the appropriate Pentatonic, then expand up to a different Diatonic scale to develop a different section of the piece.

... and all of that before you even think about changes to key, time signature & tempo.

Hope this makes some kind of sense. Have fun with it.

[foxy1987]

Thanks for the response! The Dominant pentatonic that i'm referring to out of Shaun Baxter's column has degrees 1 2 3 5 b7; G dominant pentatonic is G A B D F, so a bit like the major pentatonic but with a b7 instead of a 6th. It sounds awesome.
I have a guitar lesson today and i think we're gonna look at all this stuff properly-Mixolydian and dominant pentatonic .

[musophilr]

Originally Posted by foxy1987

Thanks for the response! The Dominant pentatonic that i'm referring to out of Shaun Baxter's column has degrees 1 2 3 5 b7; G dominant pentatonic is G A B D F, so a bit like the major pentatonic but with a b7 instead of a 6th. It sounds awesome.
I have a guitar lesson today and i think we're gonna look at all this stuff properly-Mixolydian and dominant pentatonic .

That's a new scale on me. Thanks for sharing it, I'm probably going to be distracted (by playing with it) from the task of decorating and reorganising my music room!

[foxy1987]

Glad i could help, at least you're still being productive :P

[foxy1987]

Does anyone by any chance know any artists who use the dominant pentatonic scale in their music?

[Professor SourTone]

Probably a lot of blues players, although they may not think of it in that way. It outlines a Dom9 chord. I guess BB might be a good example.

[foxy1987]

What's that? I heard BB rarely breaks out of his well known pentatonic box.