ENCLOSED - Part II (Pentatonic Fury)

ENCLOSED - Part II (Pentatonic Fury)

In the first part of this book series I presented different concepts and ideas within the major scale system and in this volume (Part II) I will be concentrating on the application of such concepts within the minor pentatonic scale.

The most basic explanation of an “enclosure” is the insertion of the surrounding pitches (above and below) of a selected note before the note is sounded. The relationship of these surrounding notes to the target note can be diatonic, chromatic or both. In some of the classic melodic vocabulary of the be-bop era this process was applied often on the chord tones of the various harmonic structures that were commonly used in tunes but the same process can be applied to any melodic fragment, scale, etc.

The order of the surrounding notes can also be changed. You can start with a pitch above the target note, then a pitch below the target note and then resolve to the target note. Vice-versa, you can start with a pitch located below your target note, then follow with a pitch above the selected note and finally descend to your target pitch.

There are so many choices so exploring a good array of the possible options is a great way to figure out what you like.

The three enclosure ideas I will be working with throughout the book are diatonic step higher / chromatic step lower, chromatic step higher / diatonic step lower and diatonic step higher / diatonic step lower (than the target note).

In the following pages I present some of my vary favorite enclosure ideas and phrases extracted from the minor pentatonic scale (A minor pentatonic) and taken over the entire range of the fretboard.

For more info please e-mail: hristo@hristovitchev.com