This week I’m going to be talking about the difference between driving the bus and riding the bus – but don’t worry, we aren’t taking a detour into public transport.

By focusing your ears on the tricks used by great musicians to seamlessly shift attention between different instruments we will unravel some of the mysteries of arranging and find common ground between such diverse genres as jazz, soul and hard rock.

Hail To The Bus Driver

Way back when I was still at university I attended a jazz gig put on by some students of the Birmingham Conservatoire. Now there was no doubt the band was cooking; the pianist in particular had a ferocious style, dropping Bach-influenced baroque flourishes into jazz standards. Despite the virtuosity on display something was amiss that as a jazz novice I couldn’t quite put my finger on. When they played their interpretation of the wonderful Miles Davis track “So What” it seemed crowded and claustrophobic, where the original was airy and free.

“They didn’t know who was driving the bus” interjected a stranger as we discussed it in the bar afterwards. I was confused; but he looked every bit the finger clicking, Jean Paul Sartre reading hep cat so I asked him to explain.

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In this article, I’m going to introduce you to the minor pentatonic scale, explain where it comes from (and why you should care), and give you some tips on how to use and recognise it in the real world.

The minor pentatonic scale is a staple of rock and blues guitar, which is also quite common in metal, punk, and other genres of music influenced by those styles. As implied by ‘pentatonic’ in the name, the minor pentatonic scale is a five note scale which shares its scale notes with the natural minor scale.

While the two scales share notes, the use and overall sound of the minor pentatonic scale is quite different from the natural minor scale. The examples below show the A natural minor scale and A minor pentatonic scale.

A Natural Minor Scale (click to enlarge)

Listen to the A Natural Minor Scale
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Here are a few great ear training resources on the web which you might not have come across:

Arranging Music for A Cappella

“This guide should get you started arranging music for your a cappella group if you have musical ideas but don’t know how to put them down on paper. It’s no substitute for really learning music theory, but if your primary concern is just arranging your favorite song, this will help get you there.”

A fantastic introductory guide to arranging music for close harmony groups (a.k.a. a cappella or the sub-genre barbershop). I’m a big fan of a cappella music, and listening carefully to it can be a tremendous way to develop your ear.

It may sound like an intimidating topic, but you’ll learn a lot even if you don’t ever start arranging yourself, and it really is taken at a gentle pace. For example, Click to read the rest…