This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide. In this article, he shares a bluesy minor pentatonic approach that works surprisingly well over “Fly Me to the Moon.”
This article is for anyone who’s thought, “I’m not sure how to actually use the minor pentatonic scale” or “I want a fresh idea for my improvised solos.” It’s a handy scale that works well over:
- Tunes in the key of A minor
- A Dm7 → G7 → C△7 ii-V-I progression
- An F blues
Contents
The A Minor Pentatonic Scale
Let’s use the A minor pentatonic scale as our example here. This is the well-known shape a lot of players already learned this scale in.
To give that familiar shape a bluesier flavor, I add in the ♭5th of A minor — E♭.
I also shift the lowest note from A to E♭ on the 7th fret of the 3rd string, turning it into an inversion of the same scale.
I use this scale a lot when improvising over “Fly Me to the Moon” — and in particular, I lean heavily on emphasizing that ♭5th.
Here’s a quick demo of it in action — hopefully you can hear how it locks in with the harmony.
Why a Bluesy Minor Pentatonic Works So Well Over “Fly Me to the Moon”
The notes in this A minor pentatonic scale are:
A (root), C (m3rd), D (11th), E♭ (♭5th), E (5th), G (7th)
The reason it works so well is that these notes overlap heavily with the actual chord tones of each chord in the progression.
For Example
Am7 (Bar 1)
A (root), C (m3rd), E (5th), G (7th) are chord tones; D (11th) and E♭ (♭5th) are tensions.
Dm7 (Bar 2)
D (root), A (5th), C (♭7th) are chord tones.
G7 (Bar 3)
G (root), D (5th) are chord tones.
C△7 (Bar 4)
C (root), E (3rd), G (5th) are chord tones.
F△7 (Bar 5)
C (5th), A (3rd), E (△7th) are chord tones.
Because the scale overlaps so heavily with chord tones across the progression, even playing it fairly freely tends to land “in the pocket” sound-wise.
Using It With Restraint
That said, if you go too random with it the way the opening demo did, it stops sounding musical. So it’s worth being deliberate about leaving space and dropping in the bluesy minor pentatonic only at select moments, rather than constantly. Try working it in piece by piece, wherever it feels like it fits.
Hopefully this gives you something useful for your own improvising.
Knowing which notes overlap with the chord tones in theory is one thing — actually hearing whether your placement of them sounds musical or just random is exactly the kind of judgment a teacher sharpens fastest.
Want Personalized Feedback on Your Playing?
This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.