The minor pentatonic box
A free guitar lesson · 5 steps · about 9 minutes
Your first scale
A scale is a set of notes that sound good together, played one after another. The minor pentatonic has just five notes, which is what pentatonic means, and it is the scale behind more guitar solos than any other: blues, rock, pop, funk, almost everything.
It is also the easiest scale to learn on the guitar, because its notes fall into one neat shape, the box.
The notes of A minor pentatonic
The five notes of A minor pentatonic are A C D E G. The first, A, is the root: the note the scale is named after, and the one it feels at home on.
Played on the neck around the fifth fret, those five notes make this shape:
Every string has exactly two notes. The filled dots are the As, the root: on the low E and high E strings at the fifth fret, and on the D string at the seventh.
Which finger plays what
The box sits over four frets, 5 to 8, so give each fret its own finger:
- fret 5: finger 1
- fret 7: finger 3
- fret 8: finger 4
Finger 1 stays at the fifth fret for the whole box, like a barre that is not pressed down. That is called playing in position, and it keeps your hand still while your fingers do the work.
Up and down the box
e|---------------------5-8-8-5---------------------| B|-----------------5-8---------8-5-----------------| G|-------------5-7-----------------7-5-------------| D|---------5-7-------------------------7-5---------| A|-----5-7---------------------------------7-5-----| E|-5-8-----------------------------------------8-5-|
Start on the root, the low E string at the fifth fret, and play every note up to the top, then all the way back down. Say the note names as you go if you can: A C D E G A C D E G A C.
Go slowly. Every note should be clean and even, and none should ring into the next. Speed is the last thing to worry about.
Why it works
The five notes of the minor pentatonic leave out the two notes of the full scale that are most likely to clash with the chords underneath. So you can play almost any note in the box over a song in A minor, and nothing will sound truly wrong.
That is why it is everybody's first scale for improvising. Put on a slow backing track in A minor, or play along to a song in A minor, and noodle around inside the box. Whatever you play, it will fit.