Riffing in Dm Pentatonic
Other bassists often ask me, “the Blues are so limiting. What can you really do with five notes?”
The question tells me a lot about the person, and how they view music. My personal take is this: you can make more beautiful music with five notes than you can with a million. It’s all about your approach.
Yesterday, while I was taping for some new lessons, I took a few minutes to just riff for the fun of it. The video below shows that riff session. Notice that I seldom go outside the pure pentatonic scale – a few times using the flat 5.
Here, then, is Riffing with Eddy – in Dm Minor Pentatonic.
As I said, the vast bulk of this session was in pure pentatonic form. Hopefully, this video gave you some ideas of your own. so why not grab your bass and do a little riffing of your own. See what you come up with. As always,
Aim High – Play Low!
Lane
Was this video helpful or inspiring? Let me know in the comments below. And don’t forget to LIKE it, OK? Thanks! ~ Lane
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[..YouTube..] Turn it up!! gig volume!! hehee, Sweet playing Lane
[..YouTube..] Cabinet sounds great! Thanks for posting this.
What strings are you playing on? They look like black tapewounds but have a roundwound growl. Or is that the cabinet speaking to me?
It’s both, Richard. The strings are DR Strings Black Beauties. They are a stainless roundwound with a special coating to reduce wear and loss of top end. I’ve used them since they were introduced and love them! Check them out at the DR Strings web site. And thanks for asking…