Tuesday, July 23, 2013

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 321 #365)

Pentatonic Scales!!!

Though back in town, Joe was keen to have the pentatonic scale conversation continue, so he turned class over to Shoji once again to spend a little more time going over the scales and their use. He played examples of tunes like Freddie King's Same Old Blues and demonstrated which scales fit where. The Freddie King tune, for example, was a great example of consciously playing the major pentatonic over a given chord and the minor pentatonic on another.

But you can't play any scale consciously over a tune if you don't know the scale to begin with! So, get with the program and learn the major and minor pentatonic scales. Joe suggested you know these on your C harp:
  • Major Pentatonic in F, C and G (that's 12th, first and second position)
  • Minor Pentatonic in G, A, E and D (second, fourth, fifth and third position)
If this is too daunting for you, start with learning the root and fifth (dominant) of each. These are powerful anchor points and as Shoji demonstrated, he "always knows he wants to get to the fifth."

If you need them again, Shoji's handouts are here.

Tickets On Sale Now - Chicago Blues Harp Bash #6!!!

Chicago Blues Harp Bash website is updated, the poster is in the works and tickets are on sale now!

September 22, 2013, 6pm, in Szold Hall at the Old Town School of Folk Music

Johnny Sansone from New Orleans will headline! Sansone is a powerful singer, low-down blues harp player and a well-respected songwriter. As a matter of fact, his song The Lord Is Waiting and the Devil Is Too was a Blues Music Award Song of the Year winner. He isn't often in Chicago and we're proud to be bringing him here for you!

Our terrific local harp players are Zoe Savage, Tall Paul Sabel, Scott Dirks and Grant Kessler.

The bandleader this year is Shoji Naito and he's lined up Mike Scharf on bass and Mark Fornek on drums.

Mark your calendars - it's going to be a hot show!

Class Notes
  • Joe will be out again next week - no private lessons, but Shoji and Zoe will handle the group classes!

- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew