The major pentatonic box
A free guitar lesson · 4 steps · about 8 minutes
The bright side
The major pentatonic is the minor pentatonic's cheerful twin. Where the minor box sounds bluesy and tough, the major sounds sweet, open and happy. It is all over country, pop and soul, and in the sunnier moments of rock solos.
Its five notes, counted from the root, are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th notes of the major scale. In A major pentatonic that is A B C# E F#.
The same shape, three frets lower
Here is the lovely surprise. The major pentatonic box is exactly the same shape as the minor box you already know. It just sits in a different place relative to the root.
This is A major pentatonic, starting at the second fret. Compare it with A minor pentatonic at the fifth fret: identical shape, moved three frets down. The filled roots are still As, now under your fourth finger on the low E, at the fifth fret.
Playing it
e|---------------------2-5-5-2---------------------| B|-----------------2-5---------5-2-----------------| G|-------------2-4-----------------4-2-------------| D|---------2-4-------------------------4-2---------| A|-----2-4---------------------------------4-2-----| E|-2-5-----------------------------------------5-2-|
Fingering is the same as the minor box: finger 1 at the second fret, finger 3 two frets up, and finger 4 three frets up.
The scale starts on F#, not on the root, because that is where the shape starts. Try beginning and ending on an A instead, the low E at the fifth fret, and listen to how much more settled it sounds. The root is home.
When to use which
A simple rule to start with:
- over a song in a major key, or over a major chord, use the major pentatonic;
- over a song in a minor key, or a bluesy, rocky song, use the minor pentatonic.
In blues, players often use both over the same song, switching between the sweet major sound and the gritty minor one. That mix is a big part of what makes blues sound like blues.