Upper Structure Pentatonics: Thinking inside the Box (Talking Technique)

by Ari 3 Oct 2019 2 minute read
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Thinking Inside the Box: Upper Structure Pentatonics

If you have been following me for a while or if you have taken any of my courses, you know that I am big on boxes. Boxes, as in box shapes, as in 0f course pentatonics. After all, pentatonics make up a huge percentage of what bassists play so knowing how to use the right ones at the right time is a must. Don’t think of them as beginner stuff or boring, all things I have heard people say. Nothing could be further from the truth! In this episode of Talking Technique I use a “Little Box/Big Box” blueprint on the top two strings only and we will use them for “upper structure” coolness, IOW, they sound super hip for solos! Just because it is fairly easy to do doesn’t mean it can’t sound awesome!

Enjoy upper structure pentatonics!

Check this episode out on notreble.com

Here is the PDF for this episode

Check these posts for more Pentatonic Goodness:

👉 Pull-off Pentatonics

👉 Five major Pentatonic Shapes

👉 Terrified to Solo?

👉 Why Pentatonics are used for solos

Just Getting Started with Pentatonics? Try this on for size: Pentatonic PlayGround DVD

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Bassist, author, educator.

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Hi. I'm Ari.

As a bassist, I have toured/played/recorded with a variety of rock, Jazz, and funk bands, I have worked with some incredible producers (Keith Olsen) and musicians (Paul Hanson, Muriel Anderson) and I toured Brazil with Stu Hamm as a duo.

 

As a bass teacher, I have taught at London Bass Day, Gerald Veasley’s Bass Boot Camp, SBL, Truefire, notreble… I even ran my own music school for a few years before gigs took me back on the road.

 

One thing to know about me is that I teach because I am absolutely fascinated with the learning process. And I am obsessed with helping others realize their musical potential.

 

When I started playing bass, I excelled very quickly because I had an amazing teacher who taught me using a powerful method. This method transformed my playing so quickly that I passed a bunch of high-level university auditions and even tested out of entire classes at university even though I had been playing for only a very short time.

 

That’s what, many years later turned into one of my books, co-written with Wolf Wein, called “The Pattern System for the Bass Player”. I created entire systems of learning based on some of these ideas and wrote books and created courses together with Wolf. Our bass books have sold over 30,000 copies and garnered rave reviews.

 

I started teaching online in 2009 and have embraced technology as a powerful learning tool since then, never losing sight of the importance of providing feedback and personalized guidance to learners.

 

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