Minor Pentatonic Scale On Guitar

The minor pentatonic scale is a major part of rock, blues, metal, and punk guitar. Bands have made their entire career using nothing but this scale with possibly only minor variations in all of their songs. It might seem the reason that so many bands can get so much from this scale is because it is a diverse scale that allows for a lot of variations, but oddly enough that isn’t the case. The minor pentatonic scale is perhaps the blandest scale in common usage that really isn’t anything besides the minor scale with the two most dissonant notes of the scale removed. However, that is the reason why it is such a common scale to be used in so many styles of guitar.

The minor pentatonic scale consists of five notes, 1 – b3 – 4 – 5 – b7. The exercise below shows a simple A minor pentatonic shape. This scale pattern is movable, with the key indicated by the lower note on the 1 and 6 strings. This shape is a good one to become familiar with initially.

The following exercise is the same pattern, except rather than playing straight through; the notes are played low-high-low progressively through the scale. This is a good start to practicing playing the scale in a manner other than straight up and down.

The following example is a pattern rooted on the fifth string, as opposed to the sixth string root above. This is also A minor pentatonic, but notice that it is played much higher on the neck. It is good to be familiar with this pattern, as well.

It is a good idea to practice the same low-high-low position for this position, as well. The exercise below shows this particular way to play through this position.

Once you are more familiar with the scale, it is important to realize that it is not solely limited to being played in the above box shapes. Below shows a much larger, diagonal scale that moves up and down the guitar neck, in addition to moving across it. Be sure that you are moving cleanly between the notes between the position shifts. There should be no audible difference between using this pattern and when you were just playing straight across the neck.

As with the previous box patterns that you worked on, it is a good idea to play this scale using a low-high-low pattern. This is a good way to build familiarity with this type of movement through the minor pentatonic scale. This is a very common way to play through some quicker runs up and down the minor pentatonic scale.

One thing you may have noticed playing through these examples is they aren’t very interesting by themselves. Sometimes the low-high-low pattern is used in parts of solos, but for the most part, they don’t really sound like a song. Guitarists that use this scale particularly well do so by adding technical positions and dynamics to their solos to draw interest to the scale. Just playing arbitrary notes from this scale really won’t allow for many options to create very interesting solos or riffs. However, incorporating techniques like string bends, vibrato, slides, harmonics, and palm muting can make for interesting and exciting parts.

The following is an example that shows more realistically how the minor pentatonic scale would actually be used in an actual guitar part. If you haven’t developed the techniques yet to play it, then don’t worry about trying to play it. Just realize that a large part of using this scale is taking the time to effectively learning to use the guitar techniques properly. It is hard to get much from this scale by just playing the notes from it, but with good technique, it can make for exciting and dynamic parts.

Keep on rockin'!