The Pentatonic Minor Scale

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Guitar Scales

The Minor Pentatonic scale is one of the most commonly used scales in Rock, Blues, Country and Jazz music. The name “Pentatonic” can be defined as five tones. “Penta” means five and “tonic” refers to tone. The intervals that make up the pentatonic minor scale are:

1 b3 4 5 b7

Root Minor Third Perfect Fourth Perfect Fifth Minor Seventh

For example, an A Minor Pentatonic Scale would contain the following notes:

A C D E G

There are 5 positions that make up the pentatonic minor scale. This will allow you to play the same notes all over the fretboard without any limitations.

Position one starts on the root note “A” (root highlighted in red)

Position two starts on the second note (b3) of the scale “C”

Position three starts on the third note (P4) of the scale “D”

Position four starts on the fourth note (P5) of the scale “E”

Position five starts on the fifth note (b7) of the scale “G”

Important notes when practicing: