The Pentatonic Scale
The pentatonic scale, by far, has to be the most widely used guitar scale. Its versatility and playability is unmatched. In this lesson, we take an overall view of the pentatonic scale, how it’s formed, the two most common pentatonic scales used in music, and the patterns of the pentatonic scale.
Pentatonic Scale Formula
The pentatonic scale is a five-note scale derived from a parent diatonic scale (major or minor scale). While the specific interval formula varies for the type of pentatonic scale, the scale avoids half-step intervals between all of the notes of the scale. This quality is what makes the pentatonic scale sound good and player friendly. The lack of half-step (semitone) intervals pulls out the most dissonant sounding notes of the diatonic scale.
There are two main pentatonic scales, the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic.
Major Pentatonic Scale
The major pentatonic scale comes from the 7-note major scale and has the following formula:
Notice the 4th and 7th degrees of the major scale are removed, which removes the half-step intervals between the 3rd/4th and 6th/7th.
Minor Pentatonic Scale
The minor pentatonic scale is built from the 7-note natural minor scale and has the following formula:
The half-step intervals of the minor scale occur between the 2nd/3rd and 5th/6th, both of which are removed in the minor pentatonic. For full lessons on the major and minor pentatonic scales, check out:
Pentatonic Scale Patterns
While the major and minor pentatonic scales have different formulas, they share the same scale shapes due to the relationship of relative scales.
Relative scales share the same notes, but their interval structure differ due to the difference in the root note. Let’s take a look at an example using C major and A minor, relative scales.
Both the C major pentatonic scale and A minor pentatonic scale share the same notes:
If we apply these notes to shape one of the pentatonic scale from above using C as the root note, we get the C major pentatonic:
Now if we do the same and use A as the root note, we get the A minor pentatonic:
It’s this relative relationship between the major and minor scales that allow for them to share the same pentatonic scale patterns.
Movable Scale Patterns
The scale patterns for the pentatonic scale are movable. In other words, this same patterns are used across the different keys. For instance, if we take the A minor pentatonic scale from above and move it up two frets we get the B minor pentatonic scale.
This holds true for all pentatonic scale patterns. This is extremely useful when it comes to transposing scales to different keys. Once you know the scale shapes you know them for all major and minor pentatonic scales.
Connected Pentatonic Scale Patterns
The pentatonic scale patterns connect to each other up and down the fretboard, creating a grid that allows you to play all over the neck. Pattern 1 connects to pattern 2, pattern 2 to pattern 3 and so on until pattern 5 connected back to pattern 1. The diagram below shows all five patterns connected.
For a more clear view, let’s go pattern by pattern up the fretboard.
These scale shape connections are the same for both major and minor pentatonic scales. Again, the only differences between the two is the root note from which they start and the interval relationship relative to that root note.
Practicing the Pentatonic Scale
When practicing the pentatonic scale, it’s important to get the box shapes under your fingers and into your muscle memory.
Pentatonic Box Exercises
To do this, start with the root note of each pentatonic scale pattern and play through the scale ascending and descending until you’ve played all the notes for a given scale shape.
In the example below, we play through position 1 of the A minor pentatonic scale:
For more pentatonic box patterns exercises, see 7 Pentatonic Scale Exercises to Master the Box Shapes.
Expanding Beyond Box
Once you have the box patterns down, the next step is to start connecting this box patterns up the fretboard. This can be accomplished by extending the pentatonic between positions. Let’s take a look at an example.
This pentatonic patterns connects the first and second positions of the minor pentatonic scale.
To build a thorough mapping of the pentatonic scale, I recommend my ebook, The Pentatonic Fretboard. It contains exercises that will help you visualize the pentatonic scale all over the guitar fretboard. This will help you utilize the pentatonic scale fluidly up and down the neck.
Wrap Up
The pentatonic scale is such a versatile scale and one guitar players absolutely must know. The shared patterns between the major and minor scales make learning the shapes efficient, you just need to keep in mind the tonal differences between the two. Take the time to learn the scale patterns thoroughly and apply them across multiple keys in order to best utilize the scale in a musical setting.
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The Pentatonic Fretboard
Master the pentatonic scale all over the fretboard!
While most players learn the main pentatonic box, we’re selling ourselves short if we stop there. The Pentatonic Fretboard will help you go beyond the box and create a full visualization of the pentatonic scale all over the fretboard.
