By this point, you should know, but if you’re starting with a blog that says “box 4” and you haven’t read the other three, well, I don’t know if I can work with that kind of stupid.
We’re rolling right along to box 4! Let’s ask this question, though. When should I add a new box to work on? Well, for each person, that’s a little different. I think you should be able to play the scale backward and forwards without much trouble at a certain bpm. Let’s at say 95 bpm. Does that number hold any special value? Hell, no. I just used it as an arbitrary number. You can pick any number you’d like. The METRONOME is the key part here! You should be able to have some “pressure” on you to keep you honest and moving.
Once you feel like you’re at that place with the other boxes, go ahead and give the fourth box an honest effort.
We’ve seen the previous boxes double up as another scale shape when we start the box to the root of our choosing. Box 4 is no different! We have the Minor Blues Pentatonic Scale built into this box.
What makes this a minor blues scale instead of a regular old minor pentatonic scale?
Minor Pentatonic
1 – 3b – 4 – 5 – 7b
Minor Blues Pentatonic
1- 3b – 4 – 5# – 7b
One thing I love about blues scales, you can play almost any damn note, and it sounds good! Those 4# and 5# (the half steps, baby) really add some stank to your solos. That augmented sound can be really cool! A little more “dangerous” than sticking to your plain old major/minor as you have a chance to hit something that doesn’t “jive” with the rest of the music in the key. Why is that? Well, it’s because you’re jumping out of the key! Not a bad thing. We just want to make sure it’s intentional when we do it.
Alright, here’s what it looks like!
Get to work! Dedicate a week to the bad boy (or less time if needed) to really solidify this piece to the puzzle!
Dean Nelson 