A minor jam
i7 | i7 | iv7 | i7
Two minor 7th chords: every note of the minor pentatonic fits both. Lean on the root over the first and the 4th over the second.
Learn · Scales and soloing
The pentatonic scale on guitar
Five notes with nothing to clash. Why they work, why the major and minor pentatonic are one shape, the five boxes and how they join, the blue notes, and how players solo and write with them, all to hear.
Minor keyA minor pentatonic = C major pentatonic
Five notes, nothing to clash
Take the C major scale and leave out two notes, its 4th and its 7th. Those are the only two that sit a half step from a neighbour (the 4th above the 3rd, the 7th under the root), and half steps are where notes rub. What is left, five notes with no half steps between them, is the major pentatonic. Start the same five notes on A and it is the minor pentatonic. With nothing to clash, almost any note of it sounds right over the chords of the key, which is why it is the first scale most guitarists learn, and the last they would give up.
Press a row to hear it over a drone on its home.
One shape, two names
The A minor pentatonic and the C major pentatonic are the same five notes, as the relative minor and major keys are. So every box is both: read it from A and it is minor, from C and it is major. The dots stay where they are; only the home changes, and with it the colours.
On the guitar the major pentatonic’s boxes are the minor pentatonic’s, moved down three frets: C major box 1 starts where A minor box 2 does.
The five boxes
Two notes on every string, five ways round the neck. Box 1 starts on the root on the low E string; each box starts on the next note of the scale, and the top edge of one box is the bottom edge of the next, so the five join into one neck. Learn box 1 first, then box 2, and practise sliding from one into the other.
The boxes on the whole neck
The box you pick is solid; the rest of the scale is hollow, so you can see the notes each box shares with the next.
The blue notes, and where the pentatonic leads
Add one note between the 4th and the 5th, the ♭5, and the minor pentatonic becomes the blues scale: Songling calls it “sanctioned trouble”, a tritone inside the pentatonic. Pass through it on the way to the 5th rather than holding it. The major pentatonic’s blue note is the ♭3, slid or bent up into the 3rd: the major blues of country and blues.
Add two notes instead and you have a mode. Each mode except Locrian is a pentatonic plus two, and those two notes are exactly where its half steps and its colour live. Press any of these to hear it over a drone.
the grit
the open sky
More in the modes lesson; the next lesson, pentatonics and modes, is about blending the two.
Soloing with it
Bend to the next note. On the top three strings the glowing notes, the 4th, the ♭7 and the ♭3, are a whole step under the next note of the box. Bend them up until they sound that note: the most played move in rock and blues.
Land on chord tones. When the chord changes, end your phrase on a note of the new chord: the root, the ♭3 or the 5th over the minor home chord.
Call and response. Play a short phrase, then answer it, as a singer and a band would.
Leave space. Rests are part of the line. Three notes and a gap say more than a run of sixteen.
Repeat, then change the ending. Play a phrase twice and alter its last note the third time.
Three to play over, in the key at the top of the page:
Writing with five notes
- Hooks. Pentatonic melodies are easy to sing, with no awkward half steps, which is why so many vocal hooks and nursery tunes use only these five notes. Hum a line over your chords using only them and it will fit.
- Riffs. The minor pentatonic on the low E and A strings is where rock and blues riffs come from: root, ♭3, 4 and ♭7, with the open strings in the keys of E and A.
- Chords. Stack pentatonic notes and you get open chords with no wrong note in them: the 6/9, sus2, sus4 and minor 7th chords below are made only of the C major pentatonic’s notes. Strum one and play the scale over it.
- Major or minor feel, same notes. Which chord you make home decides whether the same five notes sound like C major or A minor.
C6/9
Standard5 strings
Csus2
Standard4 strings
Am7
Standard5 strings
Gsus4
Standard5 strings
Look it up
Every pentatonic in every key and position is on the scale pages: A minor pentatonic, major pentatonic, blues scale.
Questions
What is the pentatonic scale?
A five-note scale. The major pentatonic is the major scale without its 4th and 7th (R 2 3 5 6); the minor pentatonic is the same notes started from the 6th (R ♭3 4 5 ♭7). With no half steps, its notes do not clash with the chords of the key.
What are the 5 pentatonic positions?
Five boxes, two notes a string, each starting on the next note of the scale on the low E string. Together they cover the whole neck, and each one’s top edge is the next one’s bottom edge.
What is the difference between the major and minor pentatonic?
Only the home note. A minor pentatonic and C major pentatonic share every note and every box; over an A minor chord it sounds minor, over C major it sounds major.
Which pentatonic box should I learn first?
Box 1, with the root on the low E string under your first finger. Then box 2, and the slide between them.
Can I use the minor pentatonic over a major chord?
Over the blues and much rock, yes: its ♭3 against the chord’s major 3rd is the bluesy rub. Over a sweeter major song, the major pentatonic fits better.