Learning Bandoneon Fast? Start from Pentatonics!

I spent time training scales on bandoneon starting from diatonic C major scale and then adding alterations to perform other scales following the fifths circle.

This is ok, but what happened to me was that I was spending a lot of time on the first scales and I dedicated little or almost nothing efforts to the other ones (those with really a lot of #), with the double bad result I felt confortable only on few scales and only on the parts of keyboard I practiced more.

So the problem is: how to have a taste of all scales on bandoneon and feel confortable with the whole keyboard without a using huge amount of time?

I started thinking about pentatonic scales as a solution. 

I apologize for the "sensationalistic title": of course in order to learn bandoneon in a complete way pentatonics are not enough. But what I'm saying is learning any major and minor scale on bandoneon could start from a pentatonic, because:

• instead of learning 7 notes for every octave, you need to learn just 5;
• with pentatonics you can move relatively fast from lower to higher octaves and accustoming the hand to play in other parts of the keyboard;

and, if your interest is for improvisation and jazz music:

• Pentatonics are almost everywhere in modern music.

Let's analyze one by one each of the statements. Starting from the last one.

Pentatonics are used almost everywhere in modern music

Pentatonics scales are the mainstay of modern music: think about Rock, think about Blues and Jazz.

Pentatonic scales are the base in World music too: think about folklore music from South America, Africa and Asia.

So, learning pentatonics is not a waste of time, because with a relatively little effort you can take advantage of a relatively simple but universally shared musical vocabulary.

Furthermore, we have pentatonic scales at innate level, as Bobby McFerrin demonstrates you in the video below.

You need to learn just 5 notes for each octave

Consider pentatonic as a way to move faster on the octave. Actually you're moving on the same scale (major or minor), just making bigger steps.

In this way you "jump wider" because you miss 2 steps, and you need to learn 2 notes less than the major or minor counterpart. Which results are you achieving?

In my opinion, you are learning to move using other intervals (enriching your vocabulary) and saving time: you learn a pentatonic relatively fast and you can invest saved time to "have a taste" of another scale, with other alterations, maybe the scales you know less.

Train your hand for other parts of the keyboards

Approaching new scale through a pentatonic permit you to save almost 30% of effort you need on a diatonic one. If you practice enough the pentatonic through all the octaves available in each keyboard of bandoneon, you start to move easily through the octaves with less effort (because of the wider steps) and you attain the most important result: you increase your confort in changing hand position in order to perform on every part of the keyboard.

Obviously, the pentatonic is just a starting point: when you're confortable with it you are supposed to add all the notes you need to complete scale according to your preferences, experience and music sake.

In some next posts I will discuss more about interesting harmonic use of pentatonic scales, trying to develop an interesting point of view for bisonoric bandoneon technique purpose.