Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein
Yeah, slides, bends, and hammer-ons work, but just picking the two notes can be good, too - it has a brassier sound than the softer attacks.
And yes - B.B. King agrees with you: He says his habit is to fix mistakes by sharpening them - sliding up. But since I'm playing the b3 on purpose, I think of it as part of one particular blues scale. But thinking about it your way also makes sense - and it fits Larry's position that there's no such thing as a one-way scale.
So - what are these clusters of notes I'm wondering about called if they're not called scales? And what about SRV's two-octave scale?....
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just picking the two notes can be good, but again, i think the problem in this situation (i really need to respond to this when i have an instrument around) is that the ear likes to hear tension followed by resolution. unresolved tension sometimes sounds "off."
absolutely the b3 is part of the blues scale, in fact you might argue that's what the blues is all about--that minor 3rd sound against a major (or dominant) chord. what i'm talking about here is context and setup--just because a note is in a scale doesn't mean it's going to sound good in the wrong context.
bb's advice seems to go along with a pretty general rule that doesn't always work but a lot of the times does:you're never more than a half step away from a "good note." just about anything can be used as a passing note.
i'd call these groupings of notes you're playing "related to scales" but containing some outside notes and leaving others out...you can analyze just about any passage as coming from somewhere as far as a scale, but it's really better just to look at what the relationship of the notes you're playing is with the chord they're being played over--that way when you find sounds you like you can grab them anywhere.
as for srv, i don't know anything about his hybrid scales--i'm far from a fan of his playing, but i have heard him. my guess would be that it's a combination of pentatonic and minor ideas, perhaps adding in notes from the natural minor as he works up the neck because certain intervals will sound sweeter in different ranges (for example, playing the whole minor scale on the lower strings might clash with something the bassist is doing, but playing them in the upper octaves will give you options a simple pentatonic might not.)