Ancient Vegan wrote:And if you drop those 7 note scales down to 5 note scales (or 6 if you add the blues note),
you get the positions of the pentatonic scale, which is easier to play, or at least get a good
sound out of, the less notes in a scale the easier it is to get them to sound good.
My C & W scale in the beginning was always a 3 or 4 note scale.
Patterns are like licks you just repeat them over and over and faster and faster, or slower and slower.
Agreed. You don't have to restrict yourself to blues feel, though. While adding in the b5 gives the blues feeling, you can get the feel/harmonics of the other modes by dropping either the 4th or 7th into the 5 tone scales in the same way. My best scale has one note in it; super easy to make it sound great. Maybe someday I can use it in a punk band.
Licks, in the context of this discussion, are patterns that fit within the overarching pattern of the scale defined by the mode and key. Using this information you can take your lick pattern and place it in key with the correct flats or sharps required. For example, I've been playing with harmonic minor a bit, so I can take the licks I know and sharp the 2nd and 7th to get the sound I want. As for playing licks faster or slower, I kind of like to have fun with using triplets/sextuplets either as effective 1.5x bpm or 0.75x bpm. Depending on whether you change the rhythm or the harmony layer gives a different feel just like shifting modes. This is especially fun if you have a drummer that can handle Bonham triplets or whatever that six note thing that is called that Judas Priest's drummer does with double bass drum hits substituting for some of the toms.
