Hack The Pentatonic

Scale

How to memorize the pentatonic scale on bass

and play it fluidly across your entire fretboard



















 The Pentatonic Scale ‘Shapes’
If you’re looking to really start nailing your pentatonic scale so you
can use it in your bass lines, fills or even solos, then the first thing to
learn are the basic patterns for the pentatonic scale.

Now there are 5 notes in the pentatonic scale, so there are 5 different
shapes to learn. For our example, we’ll use the key of C minor/Eb
major.

Shape 1

This is the ‘home base’ for a lot of people when it comes to the minor
pentatonic scale. It’s usually pretty familiar and gets used a ton. In tab
form, it looks like this:

œ œ œ
? bb œ œ œ
b
3 5
3 5
¤ 3 6

œ œ œ
? bb œ œ œ
b
5 8
5 8
¤ 6 8
 Shape 2

The second shape is also known as the major pentatonic scale. The
major and minor pentatonic are essentially the same set of notes, just
organized differently. If you play Shape 1 of the minor pentatonic, and
?then
b start on the
œ 2nd note,œyou get this
œ shape. Shape
œ 2, but also
œ
known
b b œ as the major pentatonic scale.

In tabs and notation, it will3 look like this:

5
3 5
¤ 3 6

œ œ œ
?b œ œ œ
bb
5 8
5 8
¤ 6 8

œ œ œ
? bb œ œ œ
b
8 10
8 10
¤ 8 10

“”
?b œ œ œ œ
bb œ œ
10 12
10 13
¤ 10 13
 Shape 3

? bb œ œ œ œ œ
œ
b
3 5
3 5
¤ 3 6

œ œ œ
? bb œ œ œ
b

This is probably the easiest 5of all the pentatonic

8 shapes
5
and starts
8
on
rd
the 3 note. If tab/notation, you get this:
¤ 6 8

œ œ œ
? bb œ œ œ
b
8 10
8 10
¤ 8 10

“” Shape 4
? bb œ œ œ
bœ œ œ
10 12
10 13
¤ 10 13

“”
? bb œ œ œ œ œ
b œ
12 15
13 15
¤ 13 15

? bb ∑
b

¤
 5 8
5 8
¤ 6 8

œ œ œ
? bb œ œ œ
b
Notice how the 4th shape is very similar to the 1st one. This will
become semi-important later
8 on. 10 8 10
¤ 8 10

“”
?b œ œ œ
bb œ œ œ
? bbœ œ œ œ œ œ
b 10 12
10 13
¤ 10 13
3 5
3 5
¤ “” 3 6
Shape 5
? bb œ œ œ œ
b œ œ œ
œ œ œ
? bb œ œ
b 12 15
13 15
¤ 13 15
5 8
5 8
¤ 6 8

? bb ∑ œ œ
b œ œ œ
? bb œ
b
¤ 8 10
8 10
¤ 8 10

“”
?b œ œ œ œ
Our last shape is also quite similar to our 2nd one. Again, this will be
bb œ œ
important soon, when we play the pentatonics across
10 all our strings
12 –
¤not just
10 the A, D13
and G-strings.
10 13

“”
? bb œ œ œ œ œ
b œ
12 15
13 15
¤ 13 15

? bb ∑
b
 Most people, when they try to practice scales, what do they do? They
just go up and down the scale.

Now there’s nothing wrong with that – it’s definitely a useful exercise,
but it’s just that: an exercise. If this is all you did with your scales,
you’d take a lot longer to deeply learn them, and if you ever tried to
use them to make a bass line, fill or solo, chances are that you would
sound like you’re still playing an exercise.

So what’s the solution? You want to make your practice more

musical. A simple way to do this is to hijack your scale practice just a
little bit.

Instead of going up one scale, then coming back down, then up the
next one and back down and on and on…

Try this instead:

Go up one of the pentatonic shapes, but instead of coming down the

same one, go up to the next shape and come down that one. In
essence, go up shape 1, but come down shape 2. That would look
2 like this:
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ “”
? bb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
b œ œ
Shape 1 Shape 2 Shape 3 Shape 4
3 5 8 5 8 10 12 10
3 5 8 5 8 10 13 10
¤ 3 6 8 6 8 10 13 10

:“;
? bb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
b
Shape 5 Shape 1 (Up an octave)
12 15 17 15
13 15 17 15
¤ 13 15 18 15

See how now, it’s still an exercise, but it’s a hell of a lot more
musical?
œ That’s exactly what you want.
? bb œ œ œ 12
b 8

¤
? bb 12 Ϊ
b8 œ Œ Ó ‰

You can also do the same thing in reverse. Start by coming down
¤ shape 1 and going up shape 2 etc. That would give you something
like this:

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
? bb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
b
Shape 1 Shape 2 Shape 3 Shape 4
5 3 5 8 10 8 10 12
5 3 5 8 10 8 10 13
¤ 6 3 6 8 10 8 10 13

“” œ
? bb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
b
Shape 5 Shape 1 (Up and octave)
15 12 15 17
15 13 15 17
¤ 15 13 15 18

The next step is to play around in one shape, and then consciously
move up to the next shape. You might want to stay in shape 1 for a
while, but when you’re comfortable, and want to move up to shape 2,
pick your time and then do it.

Check out the video for the exact method if you haven’t already.

Finally, you could get even more advanced and set limits on how long
you stay playing one shape. This is going to give you some urgency
and will force you to constantly think ahead to the next shape.

The shorter the time period, the trickier it will be. For example, you
might play the game by allowing yourself 4 bars in each position. The
trick is really nailing the change from one position to the next exactly
when you want to.

4 bars is relatively easy, but once you get down to 1 or 2 bars –

potentially even less, things get a little hairier.
You could even jump between the different shapes. Instead of going
in sequence, you could go from shape 1 to 4, to 2, to 5 and then 3 –
completely out of order. This requires a higher level of mastery of the
pentatonic scale, but if you can get there, you’ll never have to think
about the pentatonics again!

Extending The Pentatonics

So far, we’ve just dealt with the pentatonics across 3 strings. This
makes sense because 3 strings is the minimum amount where you
can comfortably play an octave in one position.

However, you can combine the shapes and play them across all 4
strings of your bass to expand your range and give you more options.

Remember how I said that some of the shapes looked familiar? Well
check this out. If you start the C minor pentatonic on the E-string and
play across all your strings, you’ll get this:

Extended Shape 1
Can you see how from the E-string to the D-string, we’ve got our
regular shape 1, but if you look from the A-string to the D-string,
you’ve got our shape 3. This is just a combination of the 2 shapes.

Extended Shape 2

Our 2nd extended shape is like a combination of our regular shape 2

and our 4th shape. From the E to the D is shape 1 and from the A to
the G is shape 4.

Extended Shape 3
This one is shape 3 and shape 5 combined.

Extended Shape 4

The 4th extended shape blends shape 4 and shape 1.

Extended Shape 5

Our 5th shape blend with the 2nd shape to give us our final pentatonic
shape that spans the whole fretboard.
Can you see how they’re all related? Once you get your head around
this, you’ll find yourself seeing the patterns and how they relate.

After a while, you won’t have to consciously think about the shapes or
the notes – they’ll become automatic and you’ll just be searching for
the sound that’s already in your mind.

I hope this has been helpful for you. The pentatonics are super useful
for all kinds of things, so use them to your advantage!

Cheers,