Getting inside of major scales, and "Sometimes I'm Happy"

The Brazilian guitar virtuoso Yamandu Costa said that the banjo “…is an instrument which doesn’t offer security; no! it’s an instrument which proposes ideas." Okay, that was a little white lie: he was really talking about the violão de sete cordas, or 7-string guitar. But it's even more true about the banjo, upon which there seem to be skazillions of ways to play anything, in a vast array of styles. Like with jazz, looking at mastering the banjo can seem like a long slog, stretching to infinity. Which is correct.

sigh...

But the only thing to do then, is to cut infinity into manageable daily slices, and enjoy the journey. And realize this: You have the right to play jazz no matter how little you think you "know." If you keep this in mind you can avoid the habit many players get into of "practicing on stage." When playing for others, be where you are. It's a good place.

Let's take a manageable slice of the infinity of scales: the major scale, which we're going to build from the ground up while exploring some of its possibilities. We'll use three moveable chord positions, bar, D, and F, and go from the bottom to the top of the neck in the cycle of fourths. We'll start with the chords themselves:

See what's happening? Now arpeggiate these, starting on the root.

We're going to gradually locate each scale degree within the three patterns. Adding the second and sixth degrees gives us the major pentatonic scale:

And now you can play Lester Young's ending lick on his 1940 recording of "Sometimes I'm Happy." https://youtu.be/BNX6H7MRVjA

You notice that I put this up there as an example of a pentatonic melody, even though there are a few notes not strictly "in" the Ab pentatonic scale. A "scale," as it is used in improvisation, is more of a proposition, a way of saying "it's basically more or less this..."

Listen to this version of "Sometimes I'm Happy" by The Oscar Peterson Trio from 1961. https://youtu.be/eYLNrh_DsXE Oscar used that same lick for his intro and outro, and played the head (the melody) exactly like Prez (Young's nickname). Prez had that effect on players: once he got his hands on a tune you couldn't hear it any other way... Also compare the two bass solos, Slam Stewart from 1940, and Ray Brown in 1961, who incorporates Slam’s solo into his own.You could tell these guys wore out Lester Young's record!

Let's call this the end of "part 1" and take a breather.