Graham English

Music Education

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 10

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern sandwiches the tonic key with two full beats of the “outside” key on either side. It starts in the transposed key, moves to the tonic key, and finishes in the transposed key.

Exclusive Interview With Award-Winning Songwriter, Andrea Stolpe

Andrea Stolpe, an award-winning songwriter who has penned songs for top artists like Faith Hill. Andrea graciously shares some of her new and original songwriting techniques from her new book, Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 9

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern spends a full beat in the original key, modulates to the “outside” key for two full beats, and then returns to the original key for the final beat.

You can play around with this pattern and find some useful alternatives. Try pushing the pattern back a beat so it starts on [...]

Hit Songwriting Tips Podcast 06-21-07

Andrea Stolpe, an award winning songwriter with writing credits for top artists like Faith Hill, shares some powerful and unique songwriting tips from her new book, Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling.

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 8

Similar to dominant 7 pentatonic pattern 3, just by playing around with two different scales, we can invoke many more different keys and harmonic shapes. This is the first pattern to start in the “outside” key.

Download the full pattern:
Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 8

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 7

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern gets challenging again. Like the previous pattern, it spends more time in the “outside” key. Only the first and fifth notes are in the original key. This means that you have to switch keys a total of three times during the entire eight-note phrase.

A useful exercise is to take a [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 6

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern spends more time in the “outside” key. Only the first full beat of each phrase is in the original key. Without looking at this pattern, can you play it? You should be getting more comfortable switching keys. Even if it doesn’t feel completely natural, you might be able to imagine [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 5

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern gets tougher again. It has four notes in C and four notes in D flat but they are all spread throughout the bar.

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 4

This pattern should be easier than the previous dominant 7 scale pattern. The transposition doesn’t split the bar so you only have to think about transposing once during the full pattern.

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 3

This dominant 7 pentatonic pattern is similar to the previous pattern. It still moves up a half step for a total of 2 notes in an eight note pattern. But this time, the transposed notes are the fifth and eighth notes in the sequence. This means that you have to transpose up a half-step twice during the pattern, rather than just once.

Solo Transcriptions: Remember Synth Solo

I’ve got dozens and dozens of transcriptions that I’ve done over the years. Some of them have been formatted nicely using either Sibelius or Finale. The other day, as I was listening to the Bryan Adams Anthology, a synth solo caught my ear and I quickly transcribed it. That got me thinking that I would [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 2

If Pattern 1 seemed easy to you, I guarantee you’ll find this next one more challenging.
Last time, we simply took a four-note pattern and transposed it up a half step for the second half of the bar. This time, we’re using a full eight-note pattern and transposing only the fifth and sixth notes up a [...]

Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale Pattern 1

A favorite scale of jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane, is the Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale.

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The Samurai Songwriter Code. How [...]

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If you’re interested in subscribing to Samurai Songwriting, today is the best day to do it. Tomorrow, Issue 2 will be released and if you subscribe now, you’ll have access to both Issue 1 and Issue 2. After tomorrow, Issue 1 will cost extra.
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Exclusive Interview With Songwriting Consultant, Molly-Ann Leikin

Listen in as I interview Molly-Ann Leikin, an award winning songwriter and songwriting consultant to over 4,000 successful songwriters! She’s helped songwriters get Grammy nominations, win Emmys, and place songs in movies, TV, and CDs all over the world.

Hit Songwriting Tips Podcast 05-20-07

Topics covered: Advice to developing songwriters, the art and craft of songwriting, strategies for writing hooks and melodies, a 7-step process to writing hit songs, and much more.

Absolute Pitch Ear Training Podcast 04-27-07

Topics covered: Learning absolute pitch, your motives, absolute pitch disinformation, motivation to learn absolute pitch, and more.

What’s The Difference Between The Free And Paid Samurai Songwriting Membership?

Free membership to Samurai Songwriting comes with many benefits. This site has a wealth of songwriting information available to you. As a free member, you will have access to some of our most treasured Samurai Songwriting principles and practices.
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How To Use Tension And Release In Your Melodies

Music, much like life, is fundamentally a swinging pendulum between tension and release. Fortunately, with music, this is easy to represent objectively and to utilize in your music composition.