McCoy Tyner / Mike Brecker style pentatonic 2-5-1 licks, legato, inside/outside


I used to hear Brecker and Tyner play these kind of licks and was mystified for years. There are several things you can to do to improve the concept of this style of approach.


- Always play the sequences starting on the and of the beat. Nothing sounds worse than playing these ON.THE.BEAT. If you listen to Brecker/McCoy, they are alway starting these off the beat...
- Anticipating the chord change sounds great. This is true of any improvised material, not just pentatonics. Too many improvisers change the chordal/improvisational approach exactly on the beat. If you listen to all the great improvisers, they all anticipated or held over chord changes.
- Utilize hammer-ons and pull-offs to get a more horn-like approach to your playing. Economy picking helps too. I hope these riffs prove useful to you.


Ex. 1 and Ex. 2 utilize Dm pentatonic over the Dm7, Abm Pentatonic (part of the tritone 2-5 series) over the G7, and Bm Pentatonic over the CMaj7.
Ex. 3 and Ex. 4 utilize Dm pentatonic over the Dm7, BMaj7#5 pentatonic over the G7 and Bm pentatonic over the Cmaj7, the latter of which gives you maj7#11 sounds.


I do not include the fretboard diagrams for the Maj7#5 pentatonics but I did a separate lesson on those which you can find on my youtube channel.


Remember, I give private lessons so hmu if you're interested. More info on my website.


check out my patreon @jackzucker





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