The Madness that is Black Napkins

I think it’s been mentioned before but the C# minor pentatonic will give you the sound for both chords. A pentatonic bluesy sound over the C# and a Lydian sound over the DMaj7, so just hang on the C# minor pentatonic for the most part. Of course you can emphasize chord tones over each chord when you want more of a challenge.
With flat nine :)
 
I think it’s been mentioned before but the C# minor pentatonic will give you the sound for both chords. A pentatonic bluesy sound over the C# and a Lydian sound over the DMaj7, so just hang on the C# minor pentatonic for the most part. Of course you can emphasize chord tones over each chord when you want more of a challenge.
Because of the principle of “pentatonic displacement” you could, in this case, travel between C# minor pentatonic and F# minor pentatonic. They share four of the same notes (C#, E, F# and B) and the other one is either a G# (in C# minor pentatonic) or an A (in F# minor pentatonic). All will sound just fine.
 
If you really want a fun time, grab the Frank Zappa Guitar Book (as transcribed by Steve Via) and try playing along with Pink Napkins!

One of my all time fave guitar sounds too...

 
Exactly my point. I was replying to a comment above...

The D would be the b9 to C# in a diatonic context, but wouldn't be in the pentatonic.
Yup, adding the b9 would make it hexatonic. Basically you would end up with the notes of two chords, in this case being C#m (C#, E and G#) and D (D, F# and A). Zappa frequently used a hexatonic scale, although most of the time he added a #6 to a minor pentatonic (just like Santana likes to do). In this case that would only “work” when you make the B minor pentatonic hexatonic by adding a #6 (you would end up with B, D, E, F#, G# and A).
Sorry, I’m a certified scale-o-phile, sometimes I just can’t help myself….. 😀
 
Other guitarist in this group I'm hanging around with really loves Zappa. That's awesome. So we're trying some Zappa tunes. Trouble Everyday is pretty straightforward. But this one...Black Napkins...man is it ever throwing me for a loop. I cannot piece together any coherent phrases for it.

It seems so simple: C#m7 > Dmaj7

That's it.

But those two chords fail to find sympatico ideas in my mental library of licks and phrases. I fumble around like a child trying to figure out their first toy.

Help me out here. What's a good way to approach this? How did Frank tackle such simple chords with such amazing, expansiveness?

For the unfamiliar:


I would look at chord substitutions to see if any useful ideas for the solo bits popped out of the substitutes....
 
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