Gary Willis style pentatonic lick - Free Bass Lesson with Scott Devine

For more free bass lessons visit - http://www.scottsbasslessons.com There you'll find loads of free video lessons covering bass soloing, improvisation, walking bass, grooves etc.

The legendary bass player Gary Willis is in my opinion one of the most unique bass players out there. He has his own unique approach to the bass guitar, not only in the way he plays but also his sound. He is one of the few bass players that is instantly recognizable when you hear him play.

I was actually lucky enough to study with Gary Willis in Barcelona, and as you can imagine during that time I was 'Willis mad'... transcribing and absorbing everything I could get from him! Throughout all the transcribing and research I carried out, I quickly learned that Gary used the pentatonic scale extensively when soloing. In fact the pentatonic scale has a huge part to play in his instantly recognizable sound. Once I had made that discovery I spent several months weaving the pentatonic scale into my vocabulary so I would be able to access the same type of harmonic material he was using. At first I was using it on static grooves where a one chord vamp would last for an extended period of time, and then later on I was applying it to the jazz standard repertoire where I had to start dealing with multiple key centers and therefore multiple pentatonic scales throughout each piece.

In this tutorial I demonstrate a great lick that is based around the pentatonic scale and is very 'Willis' when played up to speed. It's simply a three note pattern moved throughout the scale. Take it slowly to start with, then start to crank up the speed maybe 10bpm at a time until you reach a speed you're happy with and can play it comfortably.

A bit about me...

Scott has studied with an amazing host of world class musicians including Skuli Sverrisson (Allan Holdsworth), Jeff Andrews, Ralph Alessi, Ravi Coltrane, Brad Shepik and Adam Rogers. He was also lucky enough to study extensively with Gary Willis in Barcelona from 2006 to 2007.

http://www.scottdevinemusic.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Bass Guitar
• bass
• lesson
• pentatonic
• scale
• improvisation
• soloing
• gary willis
• scott devine

[DougGild76]

Cool video, very useful. I noticed that when you solo you use triplets a lot in your phrasing. Can you do a tutorial on how you approach triplets in your phrasing???

[adurgaram]

Wow cool to see u use Dutch amplifiying !!! ( Van der Kley )

[topy1729]

I really appreciate this material, thanks Scott

[happyslappysoong]

Appreciate this, Scott!

[polyshednj]

You can tell you put your hours in, and that to me is what I look for in the people I like to learn from. Workin on watching the tutorials. Thanks!

[capillensis]

More slow Scott!!



[MakeItFunkyProds]

Excellent lesson! I love your videos!!!

~Vince

[pasunaid]

So far the best

[drazenradovanac]

++++++

[peachjuice]

Another great lesson from a great teacher :D

Thanks for the tips about hand pain!