I found that taking one pattern at a time and working the you-know-what out of it to be the faster approach.

I worked the C pattern for a week, then the A pattern for a week (while still revisiting the C pattern) etc.

Five weeks that made a huge difference.

There's an upside to my method, too -- you can use whatever pattern(s) you have woodshedded like that immediately when soloing, etc. on the gig.

Was a big, "Aha!" for me when I got into transcribing great guitarists, and realized that there are many whose signature soloing style relies on only one or two of the patterns rather than switching around through all 5. The G pattern is used by quite a few, especially those who keep the Blues idiom close at hand in their jazz soloing. G. Benson is a good example of that. The G and the Blues Penta can be worked simultaneously from within the same four frets, a piece of the Major, then a piece of the minor Penta, then a piece of the Melodic or Harmonic minor, back to a bit of the Penta, etc. -- always looking for places to use the Tension Notes of b5, #5, b9 and the all-important #9, which is the b3 of the minor pentatonic blues scale as well as the flat 3 of the minor scales.

At least, for me, back then I was concentrating on moving from knowledge of Trumpet, then Piano and Organ, over to the Guitar neck, but always bear in mind that there are many different ways to look at and think about these things, everyone must find the method of thinking that works for themselves IMO. For example, a lot go Modal in methodology whereas I tend to view every scale and mode as being made up of their prerequisite pair of Tetrachords.

Finally, do not overlook how many of the greats get a lot of mileage out of the Shells and Tritones, using only two or three notes to make up a chord, whether comping or chord soloing. Another big "Aha!" moment came for me when I figured out that the 5 note can and should be dropped from any chord stack. The 5 makes a chord too "bottom heavy" by creating what the old classical organists called the Resultant, a Ghost Note one octave below the Root at half amplitude. Great for Rock, not so great for Jazz. So investigate the Shells and Tritone usage thoroughly. Tritone is a bargain in that each one represents the 3 and b7 of two chords at the same time.

And be sure to investigate what Peter Gannon posted above, that's info from the creator of Band in a Box there.

Have Fun,


--Mac

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