“The Pink Panther” Tenor Saxophone–creating my own solo.

[Michael]

😎 Hey Johnny,
About a year ago, I did a Saxophone cover of The Pink Panther (going to re-do it with my own Improvised solo in it v.s. playing someone else’s) and was wondering if you’ve considered making this song available to buy from you at some point in the future?

When I did it over a year ago–it was my first-ever Tenor Saxophone upload and really didn’t know what I was doing LOL–I just learned the sheet music that was given to me and “that was that” as they say. Looking at the sheet music now and and applying what I’ve learned from you in the way of Improvisation, I can see that the person who gave me the sheet music for their Improvised solo could have done a much better job in emphasizing key notes in his solo. Even with a major pentatonic scale (the song is in A Major) really emphasizing a minor 3rd and flat 7 can add so much to it! I don’t have Killer Blues ebook with me right now–it’s at home and I get back home on Tuesday–but I think we’ve talked about this over the forum?
Another thing I noticed looking at his Improvised solo is that I see a few flat 5 notes in there. Typically, isn’t the fifth perfect as is? I know when you flatten the fifth they called it a Diminished interval….but does it really have a place in the A major Pentatonic Scale?

[john]

yes I use a flat 5 a lot, but not over and over in one solo because it can be over done, typically I’ll use it with a growl because it just works out nicely that way, especially to sound nasty…it really stands out.
Pink Panther, yes, for sure it’s on my list since it’s such a well known sax tune. Actually, while touring last week we saw the movie “The Wrecking Crew” which is about the studio session musicians that worked in L.A. during the 60’s and 70’s and ended up playing on most of the big hits from all record label’s artists from Sinatra to the Monkeys and Plas Johnson was the main sax player in that group who of course was the guy who played on Mancini’s version of The Pink Panther. He also played on records by Peggy Lee, BB King, The Beach Boys, Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes just to name a few!

[Michael]

I didn’t know about using a flat 5 in Major Pentatonic Scale like this for the Pink Panther, I was thinking more along the lines of a minor 3rd and flat 7. Seems like those 2 notes in particular are always good notes to really emphasize. When it comes to Improvising, I guess there are some things that are taught in terms of “do’s and don’t” which can be modified…maybe even a rule to be broken? Makes me feel like, when I get back home, tossing my music theory books out the window LOL When it comes to using a flat 5, I was associating that with the Blues Scales and I don’t even think about it anymore when working with Blues Scales because your exercises really helped to commit that to my memory….but I didn’t know that you could use a flat 5 with a Major Pentatonic Scale—That’s a new thought for me. In any case, I counted a total of 4 flat 5 notes in the Improvised solo for the Pink Panther given to me….too much for one solo then?

Any kind of lesson you can post in the future along the lines of this discussion would be a big help to me. Most of the videos that you’ll see me posting for you to critique within the next few months and onward will have some kind of Improvising in it. I had on my list “On Broadway” for Tenor as done by George Benson. He does a lot of Ab Lib singing in it after the main chorus…..perfect to throw Improvising in to for sure 🙂

[john]

Rules can always be broken as long as it sounds good! When Bach was composing in the late 1600’s for the church he was not allowed to use the flat 5th and it was referred to as the devil’s interval. Today we use it a lot.
As for theory books…they are very important, we need to know the rules before we can break them!

[Michael]

Holy cow…the devil’s note! Now that is something LOL Sounds so good in the Blues exercise though…..I guess if we we’re all living in the 1600’s then we would all be in a heap of trouble LOL

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