Minor pentatonic scale on guitar
The minor pentatonic scale has the formula R b3 4 5 b7. In A its notes are A C D E G. Below you see it on the whole neck, its five positions one by one and the chords it makes, in standard tuning or in Drop D, Drop C, Drop B and DADGAD. Check out all 13 guitar scales.
Position
- 1: frets 5 to 8, 17 to 20
- 2: frets 7 to 10, 19 to 22
- 3: frets 9 to 13
- 4: frets 0 to 3, 12 to 15
- 5: frets 2 to 5, 14 to 17
A Minor Pentatonic
Degrees: R b3 4 5 b7. Notes: A C D E G.
Same notes
Chords of A Aeolian (Natural Minor)
Notes and formula of the minor pentatonic scale
Degrees: R b3 4 5 b7. Notes: A C D E G.
Its formula is R b3 4 5 b7, the same in every key: learn it once and you can build the minor pentatonic scale on any root. Players often use it for rock and blues solos.
It is the pentatonic scale most guitarists learn first: five notes, two on each string in every box. Its twin, the major pentatonic scale, holds the same notes from another root.
A root on a black key goes by one name here: C# minor pentatonic, never Db minor pentatonic. To find each note on the neck on its own, see every note on the fretboard.
Minor pentatonic scale positions on the neck
Nobody learns the whole neck at once. The minor pentatonic scale comes in five boxes with two notes on each string: position 1 starts on your low string with the root, A at fret 5, and each next box starts on the next note of the scale. Know the C Major Pentatonic boxes? They are the same five, numbered from another note.
Learn one box, then the next, and play across both: together they cover the neck. Where the neck has room, a box comes back twelve frets higher. These are two-notes-per-string shapes, not CAGED.
Position 1, frets 5 to 8
Position 2, frets 7 to 10
Position 3, frets 9 to 13
Position 4, frets 12 to 15
Position 5, frets 14 to 17
Scales with the same notes as the minor pentatonic scale
Same notes, same frets, another home note: know the minor pentatonic scale on the neck and you already have these under your fingers.
The minor pentatonic scale in every key
Your song is in F#? Find its row: the notes of the minor pentatonic scale in that key, and the fret where your first box starts. Click the key and the neck at the top jumps there.
| Key | Notes | Position 1 from fret |
|---|---|---|
| C minor pentatonic scale | C Eb F G Bb | 8 |
| C# minor pentatonic scale | C# E F# G# B | 9 |
| D minor pentatonic scale | D F G A C | 10 |
| Eb minor pentatonic scale | Eb Gb Ab Bb Db | 11 |
| E minor pentatonic scale | E G A B D | 0 |
| F minor pentatonic scale | F Ab Bb C Eb | 1 |
| F# minor pentatonic scale | F# A B C# E | 2 |
| G minor pentatonic scale | G Bb C D F | 3 |
| G# minor pentatonic scale | G# B C# D# F# | 4 |
| A minor pentatonic scaleon this page | A C D E G | 5 |
| Bb minor pentatonic scale | Bb Db Eb F Ab | 6 |
| B minor pentatonic scale | B D E F# A | 7 |
The minor pentatonic scale in Drop D, Drop C, Drop B and DADGAD
Tune down and the minor pentatonic scale stays the same scale, it just sits on other frets. In Drop D only your low string changes, so every shape on the other five strings stays put. Drop C and Drop B take every string down, so the whole scale shifts, and DADGAD lowers three strings. Here is where its root A sits on the low string in each.
| Tuning | A on the low string |
|---|---|
| Standard | frets 5 and 17 |
| Drop D | frets 7 and 19 |
| Drop C | frets 9 and 21 |
| Drop B | frets 10 and 22 |
| DADGAD | frets 7 and 19 |
In the app
Practice the minor pentatonic scale
Knowing a position is half the job. Turn it into an exercise in the free TabTunix app, play it to a click that speeds up step by step, rate each go, and see on your chart how close you are to your target tempo.
More on how to get a scale under your fingers in how to practice scales, and every other scale under guitar scales.
Questions about the minor pentatonic scale
You know which lick it is. Go get it up to tempo. Free, for Mac and Windows.
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