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Thread: Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

  1. #1
    Oval holes are cool David Lewis's Avatar
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    Default Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

    Just picked this up. It is of course the book that Coltrane, Mingus, Zappa, and Jaco, among many many others studied.

    Has anyone used it? Is it useful for a mandolin? (as in do the intervals make sense, etc?)

    Any recommendations on how to use it?

    Did anyone not like it?

    Thanks in advance.
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    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

    Quote Originally Posted by David Lewis View Post
    Just picked this up. It is of course the book that Coltrane, Mingus, Zappa, and Jaco, among many many others studied.

    Has anyone used it? Is it useful for a mandolin? (as in do the intervals make sense, etc?)

    Any recommendations on how to use it?

    Did anyone not like it?

    Thanks in advance.
    https://archive.org/details/nicolass...elodicpatterns

    link to book

    Yes it's a useful book, even for mandolin.

    But it's not "easy", the scale patterns are complex, and many of the patterns use bass clef and are beyond the range of the mandolin. It's a very typical example of mid-20th century "classical" music theory.

    Many exercises do fit the mandolin, though, and will definitely provide you with some good "fingerbuster" exercises not typically found in many other books.

    The intervals do "make sense" - but it's a complex sensibility indeed, based on expanded scales and harmonic concepts.

    Also, many of these patterns are not easily adaptable to typical mandolin music genres, although one can creatively apply them to anything.

    However, if you are a fan of "modern" music, this is one of the ways to learn from the same source as many greats.

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    Registered User Isaac Casas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

    I studied my fair share of music books back in the day (harmony, melody, composition...) and had never heard of this one, thanks so much! And I'm a Zappa hardcore fan, so it is much appreciated!

    Isaac

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    working musician Jim Bevan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

    Quote Originally Posted by David Lewis View Post
    Any recommendations on how to use it?
    Memorize a pattern, and play it in all keys, by ear or by "thinking" the transposition, but at any rate, without writing it out in the eleven extra keys.

    Do this with all of them??? Nah, just pick the ones you like, the ones that you'd be happy to drop into the middle of one of your improvised solos.
    mando scales
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    Oval holes are cool David Lewis's Avatar
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    Default Re: Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

    Thank you to all. I must say the introduction is not a light read.


    I was hoping davidkos would see this. I was wondering what his take was.

    @isaac casas - I discovered it in a passing reference in bill milkowskis excellent biography of Jaco. I did a little research and found out that slonimsky and Zappa knew and liked each other.
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    Registered User DavidKOS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

    Quote Originally Posted by David Lewis View Post
    Thank you to all. I must say the introduction is not a light read.


    I was hoping davidkos would see this. I was wondering what his take was.
    I'm honored that you would want to know my opinion. My take - that you are completely correct in your assessment of the introduction - it's a pretty involved explanation of the theory and process involved, some concepts of harmonization, etc. College level theory stuff.

    Enjoy!

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    Oval holes are cool David Lewis's Avatar
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    Default Re: Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Bevan View Post
    Memorize a pattern, and play it in all keys, by ear or by "thinking" the transposition, but at any rate, without writing it out in the eleven extra keys.

    Do this with all of them??? Nah, just pick the ones you like, the ones that you'd be happy to drop into the middle of one of your improvised solos.
    This is, I think, great advice. In perusing the contents the pentatonic and heptatonic scales catch my eyes.
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    Default Re: Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

    I have used this book on occasion to find different scales. It is more of a dictionary than a textbook.

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    Default Re: Slonimksy's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns

    Quote Originally Posted by David L View Post
    I have used this book on occasion to find different scales. It is more of a dictionary than a textbook.
    I tend to think of it as a workbook.

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