The PRO way of playing pentatonic scales on the bass

Who am I?
I am a professional musician from Brooklyn, NY. I play bass, mandolin, guitar, and synthesizers. I make videos about music and my lifestyle as a professional musician.
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[@Kram62]

I'm a new bass player at 61 yo. I've always been fascinated by the instrument and decided to go for it (and stop talking about doing it)! I've got a lot to learn. Thanks for your insight!

[@alang1007]

Yep, I did the same thing last year at 68. Took a few lessons with a teacher and now glean what I can from videos like this. Good luck with it 👍

[@pangeaproxima3681]

@@vooveks Unsolicited advice.

[@jagster574]

Thanks for the info. I'm 67 years old and began learning bass a year ago. I played drums since the age of 8 and I am beginning a new adventure.

[@CharlieRobe]

Brother,..I’m 64,..started playing bass 3 years ago. Arthritis not with standing,..I’m having a blast learning!,😊

[@robertziawinski6554]

Shift going up, ascending, with the 1st instead of the 3rd finger! Shift with the 3rd going down, descending, going down! It will be smoother!

[@djrodriguez6582]

This video instantly made my random pentatonic noodling sound more musical 🎉

[@jls70570]

Great video. I’ve been doing this since the 70s, taught it to my students, and wondered why it isn’t taught more. The only thing I do differently is that I prefer the shift from the 1 to the 2 instead of the 2 to the 3.

[@swconnexion]

as a beginner, I found your video easier to digest because it focuses on only one shape of pentatonic. Thank you

[@BrendanMurrayJubana]

Excellent man, really appreciate you taking the time to share 👍

[@DarylWeber1]

Very simple yet powerful tip, love it.

[@anbyeastbank319]

Yeah buddy! Great concept well explained- thanks!!

[@groovybasslines]

Puuuurfekt !!! 😻 great way to connect all the penta shapes on the fretboard up and down !

[@theaaronimal]

THIS IS SO GOOD! THANK YOU!

[@VeganStance]

ive just come across your video last night. Im a beginner ,been learning a few weeks and this video is a great help.

[@Space_Rooster420]

This is great information! Hard to not sound musical with this idea! Thank you for making this video 🤘🤘

[@1234drums]

Makes sense, ty ❤❤❤❤

[@johnhewett9483]

Very useful thank you so much more inspiring than the first way you played it and i have always played it that way and never got anywhere

[@cedrickpeter6263]

Hello Steve Burke great job.... My name is Cedrick, a request please record a tutorial teaching the melody you played at the start of this video 🙏🏿 and watching your videos in Uganda, Africa please

[@WeepTheGreed]

Like everyone else, this simple idea has totally made my beginner/intermediate hackery so much more musical and has really opened my brain to listen more and approach things differently. Thanks a lot. Great vid.

[@iancannon3200]

Thank you Steve! I’ll be trying this new-to-me way of playing pentatonics. Your a natural teacher. 😊

[@anthonybridgeforth844]

Thanks Steve,I feel empowered and I am headed to the next level!!

[@FloridaTrailrider]

So good. Thank you!

[@ianbellert2154]

Awesome thanks - Bell hit look forward to more learning from you mate. Cheers ❤

[@russellthompson197]

Been playing bass 3.5 years. At first I learned my scales the usual way… across 3 strings. But then I realised you need to also be able to play across 2 strings, which I think is the principle he’s talking about here; The added bonus is that you get to practice shifting & moving around the fretboard more which is how you get into & out of a different register. Also, playing up & down a single string is a good way to visualise & learn the intervallic nature of a scale.

[@grandegroove5485]

This is great !!

[@jdmarino]

This was great advice and well-reasoned. I try to avoid shifting (to a fault), and the "musicality" argument gives me a reason to break out of the box. You are not the first person to suggest it, but you are the first who didn't just offer the shifting as a fingering alternative.

[@SteveBurke]

Thanks, John! I appreciate the comment.

[@reclaimingminds2811]

Great lesson, thank you! I think a lot of bassist worry about using more of the fretboard, this method sure takes care of that issue!

[@demiadisa7162]

That was a great lesson

[@StuartRAberdein]

Very useful. Thanks

[@rabonour]

Like you, as a young bassists I learned the major pentatonic in one position. It took many, many years for me to realize that I should play it as you teach it here. It was transcribing guitar solos and paying attention to the slides/hammered double stops that led to my epiphany. Great lesson - hope that it can save some over people some time.

[@lngsrp4612]

It's amazing to me that I am just now starting to see the pentatonic taught this way. I picked this up less than a year into my 40 year career as a shitty bedroom player, but I never EVER saw it taught this way until very very recently. Also, if you know what additional notes to plug in where, and depending on where in that pattern you place the root, you can easily get the notes for any mode (major or minor) or the blues scale. Very, very simple.

[@kevmac1230]

As an old time bassist this I agree is a valuable lesson.

[@jj-eg5up]

Thank you

[@bramvanmelle5130]

Great lesson! This really opened up my playing. I tend to move the first finger up to the second degree, rather than moving the pinky from second to third, but ill try your way as well. If you're trapped in the minor pentatonic box, this major pentatonic tip will transform your playing!

[@groovybasslines]

Hi Steve ! 😊 Great patterns !!! 🔥

[@ML-nj4qi]

You my friend just earned a subscriber.

[@spacedaddy5517]

This and chromatic are used in every kind of music, if you know it or not. The major scale is rarely used, but you can combine any shapes that you like !. How awesome is that, whatever shapes or patterns you can do. I do that way of playing the scale and do almost the exact same thing as you. I play by ear though, I never read any music in my life and I basically ignore scales, I don't really need to think about it anymore. I do think about it, but it's more fluid. Kind of like singing now, I just have to find the right key. The rhythm is so important, for any song as a bassist, it's just as important as chords, scales. But really, you just need real comfort with your Bass, your fretboard. Once you can slide up a few octaves, find keys without missing, game changer. That just comes with time, like a lot of techniques. Rhythm takes a lot of time, to really get your timing down. People think they got it down, but then everything changes later on. Because they need to count more timing and rhythm, that's all. Your fret style will actually change, based on the amount of rhythm you practice, because as you improve your choices will change and always evolve. This continues on for like 20 years, more. The stuff I play now, compared to 6 years ago has completely changed. I will never stop learning new stuff, though. I will become more like a drummer, also a guitarist. Bass is half drum, half guitar and it's a bridge between instruments. Nobody really mentions this, too much anymore except drummers. If you keep this in mind, I find Bass practically plays itself. Your choices are actually slim at best, for what you need to be playing for any given song. It's a matter of how well you can play the song in your head. The drummer kind of needs you more than anyone else on the stage. Stages are not the hardest part of playing, it's practicing. Bass is maybe the hardest instrument to master. If anyone thought it was easy, your bassist sucks. Guitar has one job, Bass has two jobs. If I played guitar only, Id slay you guys after a while. I learned that stuff too fast...had to put her down cause it's distracting me. Play that thing with your wang, still sounds good or the same. Now I understand Jimi Hendrix, playing with his mouth.

[@mark-stefaniw]

I move the same way on the neck. These are basic box patterns. The minor pentatonic scale, root on your fourth finger, moves the same way with the slide between the 4th and 5th scale degrees.

[@TheMightyAvonJnr]

♥👍🏾☝🏾 Thank you.

[@zeusdavenport393]

I recently heard the phrase "playing the dots" to describe Geezer Butler's minor pentatonic approach to Black Sabbath's bass. The brilliance of playing the pentatonic in this way is that everything is 2 frets or a string change away. I like to call it the "Pentatonic Cross" because one can imagine a + shape. If you start the pattern on the left side of the + as your root, you are playing the minor pentatonic. If you start at the top of the + as your root, it's the major pentatonic. Using the + as a scale "backbone", it is easy to take the pentatonic and add in the appropriate two notes one fret away to complete a full 7 note major or minor scale. I get way more millage playing in and around the + than I ever have using the typically major scale pattern - just as he mentions in the beginning of the video. In short, it is much easier as a beginner to start to learn the notes on neck, not get lost, and always play in key if everything is 2 frets or a string change away !

[@loctardamity1]

I love a good eureka video.

[@bandicoot5412]

That bring out the imrov in you!

[@jonahcarston9491]

MY 👀 ARE OPENED NOW!!!!!

[@ErnieLeblanc]

Only 9.9k Views?🤔Great Video.

[@kathyle9938]

good 1

[@MattnUska]

You generally want to shift to your pointer finger going up and your pinky going down. I don’t know if that makes sense. It’s how the Simandl technique teaches it. It makes a bigger difference when you’re playing Fretless because you are more accurate with your position. It’s a good habit to develop on fretted though. You are always using your pointer finger to set your position.

[@csg1lcolonel528]

It really depends on the context, and it's important to know when it's appropriate to slide with your pointer or ring/pinky. I try to slide up with my pointer if I plan on using the target fret as the "root" of the next position, or with my ring/pinky if I'm sliding past the root and instead starting on the 2nd or 3rd of a scale or something similar (this is all in the case of the E string ofc, and using scales as one of many examples. There's so many ways you could apply either method. Just try not to favor one over the other so you'll be ready for anything).

[@DMGbassmauta4194]

Whaooo nice moves ❤❤😂

[@andreipetrov4850]

Probably under-viewed and underrated video :-(… (?). Steve, what about the minor pentatonic (and the rest of the “normal” diatonic set of scales, speaking of alternative fingering?) :-)

[@illustriousdrbobble]

minor pentatonic goes like this: third finger on root then first finger on b3 on string above then third finger on 4, slide through the blue note to third finger on 5, then first on b7 and third on 8(1) on string above. fingering goes like this 3,1,3slide3, 1, 3. shhh don't tell anyone

[@andreipetrov4850]

@@illustriousdrbobble thank you very much! :-), really surprised somebody noticed my squeak on an old video … :-)…. I sure liked the concept and … could have (should have would have) figured the same for the minor by myself but kinda wanted to hear from a real bassist…. The point was that I got quite nostalgic in the environment of “western music” playing Major and focusing on pentatonics, 7ths, modes, etc… (I am 65 means a mean stubborn old man :-() and I like exploring harmonies on a bass or keyboard but playing any scales (although I like it a lot) does not help figuring out fingering AT ALL when the speech is about how to nicely (melodically) connect a few chords in a simple progression. Thus, I am just used to put some videos on slow speed and watch how a real bassist literally does it… I found a lot of interesting videos on beaten to death Maj progressions (say, standards) but next to none (excepting some Spanish videos) on the minor standards…

[@vinodonnell805]

I hear Jaco

[@leoseal8339]

I find myself shifting from the 1 to the 2 running up the neck (vs the 2 to 3). Is there any disadvantage to doing it this way? Shifting with the index finger ascending. Do you find yourself practicing both ways?

[@cunt5000]

That's how I would normally play it as well, but it's worth trying both. Especially for slides.

[@mattbybee5354]

Yup....

[@IsomJacobs]

is this the same rule on a 5-string bassssss?

[@Ugfromumantman]

I really dislike how most books and tutorials of the pentatonic for guitar or bass show you the patterns and try to get you to memorize those pattern chunks. It wasnt until I started practicing them on one string and then connecting it like you've done that I really started learning scales. I think guitarists need go put mor emphasis on the intervals rather than just learning chunks and patterns.

[@balkandohla9879]

Good concept, but can see anything as your playing too fast and your fingers are in the way.

[@denisblack9897]

i dunno dude this is obvious, cuz playing it vertically can break your hand

[@SteveBurke]

Wait what?

[@davethomas30]

magic