Part I: Pentatonic and Blues Scales

Minor Pentatonic

The minor pentatonic scale is a five-tone minor scale common in blues, rock, pop, funk and other styles. We’ll start with the common tonality of E. Here are the notes, tones, and intervallic structure.

E minor pentatonic, boxes 1 – 5

The patterns are often called boxes because of their two-note-per-string shapes. Notice that box 1 includes all the open strings.

Fingering: Box 1 is in open position, box 2 is in second position, box 3 is in fifth position (stretch back a fret on the G string), box 4 is in seventh position, and box 5 is in ninth position. An alternate approach is to use fingers 1 and 3 for each pattern (except open). Or you may combine them, playing the lower (wider) frets with positional fingering, and the higher (narrower) frets with fingers 1 and 3.

Here is how they all fit together. Play up box 1, down 2, up 3, down 4, and up 5. Then reverse it and come back down. Do this until the whole sequence is memorized. The staff-tab below will get you started.

The top of box 1 forms the bottom of box 2, the top of box 2 forms the bottom of box 3, etc.

Above box 5, the patterns continue starting again with box 1. The shapes are exactly the same, with everything shifted up twelve frets.

If you put these two sections together, you have the entire neck! Although at first glance this may look like a bit of a mess, if you have already memorized the shapes and sequence, you’ll find nothing new here.

To find specific boxes more quickly, use the E minor chords in boxes 1 and 4, shown in the bottom diagram, as “anchor points.”

E minor pentatonic, diagonal shapes

The minor pentatonic scale may also be played in diagonal shapes which cut across several boxes. The most common diagonal shapes of E minor pentatonic are centered on boxes 1 and 4.

Here is E minor pentatonic box 1, or the primary box, shown first with its low extension (into box 5), then with its high extension (into box 2), and finally, the full diagonal shape.

Here is E minor pentatonic box 4, or secondary box, first with its low extension (into box 3 and lower), then with its high extension (into box 5), and finally, the full diagonal shape.

Fingering: These diagonal shapes involve shifting positions. As a rule, try playing all notes available in a given position before you shift positions. So playing the first example above (Box 1) from the lowest note, you would begin in tenth position and use the fingering 1-3-1-3, then shift into twelfth position and play the next note with your third finger. Reverse this for descending.

Other tonalities

Now we’ll consider other tonalities. This simply requires that the entire series of boxes is shifted up or down the neck. While shifting just one or two frets is easily accomplished, shifting three or more frets can become confusing. Therefore, it is a good idea to memorize at least the common keys shown here. First play the anchor chords shown under the series of boxes to get your “bearings,” then play up and down the boxes over the entire neck in that key.

At this point, you have learned the minor pentatonic scale in E, G, A, and C. For the remaining “in between” keys—F, F♯, G♯, B♭, B, C♯, D, and D♯—simply take the nearest key and slide up or down a fret or two, to place the root of the pattern on the correct pitch. (See page 63 for note names on the neck, if necessary.)

Sequencing practice

Several different sequence patterns are applied to a few minor pentatonic scales to help get you started with this practice concept. Apply each of these sequences to each of the minor pentatonic scale patterns learned so far in all the various keys.

Blues

The blues scale is a six-tone minor scale common in blues, rock, and other contemporary styles. It is almost identical to the minor pentatonic, except for one added tone—a flatted 5th. Here are the notes, tones, and intervallic structure shown based on E.

E blues, boxes 1 – 5

If you have already learned the minor pentatonic scale, the blues scale is a piece of cake. The minor pentatonic is shown in solid dots with the added ♭5th in grey.

Fingering: Box 1 uses open position. Box 2 shifts between third and second position, then back to third position for strings 1 and 2. Box 3 is in fifth position (stretch back a fret on the G string). Box 4 is in seventh position (up to eighth position for string 2). Box 5 is in tenth position (stretch back a fret on strings 3 and 4). Alternatively, you may simply use fingers 1 and 3 except when an extra finger is required due to having three notes on a string.

Below are all five interconnected boxes for E blues. Play through each pattern, shifting up and down the neck. Then practice using the sequence patterns from page 14. Remember to visualize the E minor "anchor" chords within boxes 1 and 4.

Once again, the pattern repeats above fret 12. All the notes are one octave higher than the corresponding box found lower on the fretboard.

E blues, diagonals

The diagonal forms of the E blues scale are shown below, centered on box 1 (primary) and box 4 (secondary).

Fingering: For the primary diagonal, use ascending fingering (grouped in octaves) 1-3-1-1-2-3-1, 3-1-1-2-3-1, 3-1-1-2-3. Reverse this for descending. For the secondary diagonal, follow the same idea. The ascending fingering is (0)-1-1-2-3-1, 3-1-1-2-3-1, 3-1-1-2-3-1-3.

Other tonalities

Below are the full interconnected patterns for G blues, A blues, and C blues. Once again, notice the "anchor" chords. Also look for the diagonal forms sprouting in both directions from boxes 1 and 4.

At this point, you have learned the blues scale in E, G, A, and C. For the remaining "in between" keys—F, F♯, G♯, B♭, B, C♯, D, and D♯—simply take the nearest key and slide up or down a fret or two, to place the root of the pattern on the correct pitch. (See page 63 for note names on the neck, if necessary.)

Major Pentatonic

The major pentatonic scale is a five-tone major scale common in rock, country, pop, blues-rock and other contemporary styles. Here are the notes, tones, and intervallic structure shown based on G.

G major pentatonic, boxes 1 – 5

The box shapes of the major pentatonic scale are the same as those of the minor pentatonic scale, except that they lay against the root and “anchor” chords differently. Here, box 2 (not 1) is associated with the barre chord rooted on the sixth string. Look for these major barre chord shapes inside boxes 2 and 5.

Fingering note: Use the same fingerings as for the minor pentatonic boxes on page 10.

Here are the five interconnected boxes for G major pentatonic. Play up and down each box, and shift from one to the next up and down the neck.

Next is the full neck for G major pentatonic. Of course, below box 2 there is a box 1 shape in open position. Although the low E string is in the scale, favor the G root at the third fret (start and end the box there). That way, your ear will hear G as the root, and hence, hear the scale as being a G major pentatonic rather than hearing the low E as the root. The boxes also continue in the same series above the fifteenth fret.

G major pentatonic, diagonals

The most common diagonal shapes used for G major pentatonic are shown below. The primary diagonal starts on the sixth string root, G—at the same position as the G barre chord at the third fret. The secondary diagonal contains the fifth string root, G—at the same position as the G barre chord at the tenth fret.

Other tonalities

Below are the full neck patterns for E, A, and C major pentatonic. Play the “anchor” chords, then all the patterns in each key, shifting from box to box, up and down the neck. Don’t forget sequencing practice, too! Also, find and play the diagonal shapes (shown on the previous page in G) by shifting them to the proper positions for each key.

For the remaining keys, simply slide the nearest pattern up or down the neck. (See page 63 for note names on the neck.)

Relative major/minor tricks

Major and minor scales come in pairs. For every major scale, there is a corresponding minor scale that uses the exact same notes, but starts on a different root. We say these scales are related. Every major scale has a relative minor, and every minor scale has a relative major. For example, C major and A minor are related.

In addition, C major pentatonic and A minor pentatonic are also relatives.

Another pair of relatives is G major and E minor. So as you would expect (and you may have already noticed), the G major pentatonic boxes on the previous page are identical to those shown on page 10 for E minor pentatonic. Again, only the roots (and anchor chords) are different.

One common way guitarists use this relative major/minor principle is to transform minor scales or licks into their major counterparts without having to learn any new patterns. You see, if you know the minor pentatonic scale, you can use the relative minor patterns to play the major pentatonic scale. For example, to play C major pentatonic, find the relative minor—A minor pentatonic. Now play A minor pentatonic over progressions in C major and your licks will give the sound of C major pentatonic.

In reality, your licks really are in C major pentatonic. (They only appear to use A minor pentatonic because you are familiar with seeing the patterns from a minor perspective.) The best situation is to learn the major pentatonic shapes anchored to their correct roots—in other words, seeing them truly as major pentatonics. Nevertheless, this bit of relative major/minor maneuvering can be useful and is something you should be aware of. Here is the rule:

To use minor patterns in a major key, apply the three-fret rule: Drop three frets and use the relative minor pattern.

To play G major, for example, drop three frets to E and use E minor. Here are a few relative major/minor pairs:

A minor  C major
E minor  G major
F♯ minor  A major
B minor  D major

The relative major is always the higher of the two; the minor is the lower of the two. The three-fret rule works in reverse, too. Raise any minor three frets and you’ll have the relative major.

Minor Blues

The minor blues is an eight-tone scale created by combining the tones of a straight blues scale with those of natural minor (see page 26). Here are the notes, tones, and intervallic structure of the resulting hybrid scale beginning on A.

A minor blues, “boxes” 1 – 5

The patterns of the minor blues scale are not strictly “boxes” (they are more than two notes per string) but we will refer to them this way because this scale can be viewed as a minor pentatonic (or blues) with added color tones. Below, the A minor pentatonic boxes are shown in solid dots, with the added tones of A minor blues (2nd, ♭5th, ♭6th) shown in grey dots.

Fingering: Box 1 is in fifth position (stretch back a fret on string 3 then slide up immediately to play the remaining notes in fifth position). Box 2, in seventh position, utilizes a similar procedure (slide the fourth finger up a fret on strings 1 and 6). Where boxes 3, 4, and 5 call for four notes on a string, play the first three as positional fingering, then slide your fourth finger up to catch the last note. Reverse this for descending.

Here are the five interconnected patterns on the neck. Play up and down each pattern, shifting from one to the next until you can play it from memory. To help keep things straight, use the minor pentatonic shapes that you already know as a “skeletal” framework, upon which the extra notes of the minor blues can be seen to “hang.”

Now, try the full neck. Because of how the patterns lay together, one note appears doubled in bracketed boxes 4 and 1. Following the directions in parentheses will yield the same shapes as on the previous page.

Other tonalities

Below, the minor blues scale is also shown in E and C. To play the scale in tonalities not shown here, simply shift the entire sequence of boxes up or down the fretboard. (See page 63 for note names on the neck.)

Major Blues

The major blues scale is a nine-tone scale created by combining the straight blues scale with the major tones of the Mixolydian mode (see page 42). Here are the notes, tones, and intervallic structure of this interesting hybrid scale shown based on A.

A major blues, “boxes” 1 – 5

Once again, the patterns of the minor blues scale are not strictly “boxes” (they are more than two notes per string), but we will refer to them this way because this scale can be viewed as a minor pentatonic (or blues) scale with added color tones. Below, the A minor pentatonic boxes are shown in solid dots, with the added tones of A major blues (2nd, 3rd, ♭5th, 6th) shown in grey dots.

Fingering

Box 1 utilizes the fifth and fourth positions (where five notes occur, slide with the first or fourth finger). Box 2 is in seventh position (slide with the fourth finger for the extra note). Boxes 3, 4, and 5 are similar—slide with your fourth finger to catch the extra (fifth) fret.

Here are the five interconnected patterns on the neck. Play up and down each pattern, shifting from one to the next until you can play it from memory. To help keep things straight, use the minor pentatonic shapes that you already know as a “skeletal” framework, upon which the extra notes of the major blues “hang.”

Next try the full neck. Use the A major anchor chords in boxes 1 and 4, below, to help locate positions more easily. Relating the scale to its anchor chords will also help you transpose it into other keys more readily.

Other tonalities

Below, the major blues scale is also shown in E and C. To play the scale in tonalities not shown here, simply shift the entire sequence of boxes up or down the fretboard. (See page 63 for note names on the neck.)