Notes From A Bass Guru (Vol.17, Apr.11)

"Hindu Scale"

Among the many kinds of scales and modes, I've come across Hindu scale. The flavour of sound you will get from this is almost self-explanatory based on its name. You will get a rich ethnic Hindu sound, great for Indian flavoured music! The best part of this is that it is very easy to learn in that it is very similar to the common major scale (Ionian mode). The only difference is that Hindu scale has a flat 6th and 7th. Thats all! All of the other steps are the same as a major scale/Ionian mode, except that the 6th and 7th are flattened!

Here is a picture of the pattern for the mode:

Interval pattern= Root, Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole.

It seems almost too easy! But, you have to play it with care! You will need to really play those flattened 6th's and 7th's hard and poetically! DO NOT just play them as passing tones or they will lose all of their flavour! Literally ALL of this scales power lies in the flat 6 and flat 7! If you play those as quick passing tones and don't give them special attention, it will just come out sounding like a slightly off major scale. Build your lines off of the flat 6th and 7th, use hard bends and hammerons and pulloffs between them in the middle of your lines. REALLY work those special notes hard! Use of major flat 6th chords are also nice and work well with this kind of flavour! It is all about those special tones!

Yours in Krishna,

Mark McAnaney, Solo Bassist