Intermediate: Why You MUST Master The Pentatonic Scale

This is an absolute necessity if you have any desire to play rock, blues, or most other types of music. Even if you’re a classical guitarist, practicing the pentatonic scale is a great way to learn proper technique and improvisational skills. Just like most things on the guitar, it’s tough at first, but once your finger muscles have been conditioned to playing the scale, it becomes a breeze. The great thing about this scale that makes it so perfect for improvisation and jamming is this: once you master the (relatively) simple patterns, playing this scale becomes all a matter of feeling. Another terrific benefit of it is that it is so easy to transpose to any different key.

What’s the best way to go about learning it? Well, for those just beginning to learn pentatonics, I recommend starting with the minor scale. This may seem counter-intuitive, but the home position of the A minor pentatonic scale is one of the easiest things to learn and master. If you can just learn the home position on the fifth fret of the A minor scale, you can solo to about half (if not more) of popular music through transposing it to various keys.

What if your song isn’t in the key of A? Simple: Play the same pattern as the A minor scale, but instead of playing it starting on the fifth fret of the E string (the A note,) start it on whichever note you’re supposed to be playing in. Example: To play in B minor, simply slide the home position of A minor up two frets, to the seventh fret. This note on the E string is… B! Now you can play the exact same position as you did on the A minor pentatonic, but in B minor! This works with every other key: E (open or 12th fret,) C (8th fret,) D (10th fret,) F# (2nd fret,) etc.

In some cases, though, it will be necessary to play in a major key. To do this, you simply start at whichever fret will cause the second note you play on the E string (which will be 3 frets higher than the first) to be the note of the major key. Sounds confusing, but it’s really not. Example: To play C major, we need the the note we play with our pinky on the E string to be a C. This note is on the 8th fret of the E string. If we start by putting our pinky there, our index finger will land on the 5th fret. This is exactly the same as the A minor position! Therefore, A minor and C major correspond with one another on the pentatonic scale. This is always true: every minor key has a corresponding major key. For another example, when we play an E minor pentatonic, our pinky lands on the note G on the E string (3rd or 15th fret.)

So how do you play the pentatonic scale? To do this, you must practice on your guitar, up and down until you no longer have to look at these instructions (you can find diagrams in guitar books too.) Here we go for the A minor and C major pentatonic (remember, they’re the same thing):

On the low E string: 5th fret and 8th fret

A String: 5th fret, 7th fret

D string: 5th, 7th

G string: 5th, 7th

B string: 5th, 8th

High E string: 5th, 8th

There you go! Now you can play an A minor/C major pentatonic scale! Again, to transpose it to different keys, simply use the instructions above. Note: This is only one of five main positions for the pentatonic scale, so start with this one, then learn the rest.