If you are a lead guitarist, you should start learning the minor pentatonic scale. The scope of application is most commonly used in blues and rock music to create many famous guitar riffs and solos. Learning and getting familiar with this scale is quite easy, and knowing how this pentatonic scale can help you create impressive solos in a variety of styles. This article will help the new guitarist know the basis of the “minor” of the pentatonic scale theory and the shape of this kind of scale.
Understanding The Minor Pentatonic Scale Theory
We will learn the basics of scale theory. The minor pentatonic is a five-note scale. Compared to most other popular scales that have 7 notes, the 2nd and 6th scale degrees are removed to avoid those notes clashing and unharmonious. For instance, the notes that appear in the A natural minor scale are:
A B C D E F G
The respective intervals in that scale are:
1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7
On the other hand, the notes in the minor version will be:
A C D E G
The respective intervals that appear in that scale are:
1 b3 4 5 b7
The minor pentatonic scale is often the basis of many blues and rock songs and is also the first scale guitarists learn. Because the pentatonic scale does not have any semitones, it is simple for beginners to play, especially in soloing.
If a guitarist has already learned the major pentatonic scale, then there is no need to learn any new scale shapes. This is because the major pentatonic scale has the same shape as the minor. The only difference between the five-note minor scale and the major pentatonic scale is the minor’s shapes are always 3 frets higher than the major ones.
Minor pentatonic scale shapes
The guitarist just plays in the same key, and all the notes in the scale will adapt to any diatonic chord progression. The minor pentatonic scale has 5 different shapes, and the shape stays the same no matter what key you’re playing in. However, the difference is the different positions on the neck that the guitarist plucks them. To put it simply, once you learn the different shapes of the minor pentatonic scale, you’ll be able to play them around the neck and solo in the different ranges of keys. If you want to be a master at playing the fretboard, you have to learn the 5 shapes of the minor five-tone pattern well.
Below are the 5 shapes of the pentatonic minor sequence in the key of A, which is the most popular key in blues and rock music and is also the easiest to guide the beginner, some points should be paid attention to:
- The black circles are the notes that players have to pluck
- The yellow circles are the keynotes in the A minor pentatonic scale.
- The numbers in the circle indicate the fingers of the fretting hand that the guitarist uses to play the notes
New guitarists should try the shapes I recommended below because these shapes will help the fingerings and hands in the best position when they band, solo with the minor pentatonic scale, and play the blues scale (which adds some extra notes to the minor pentatonic scale).
Shape 1
The first shape is the most memorable as well as easiest symmetrical shape in the minor five-note progression.
Shape 2
The second shape is quite recognizable and also connects to shape 1, so you can play around or switch between the two different shapes to create lots of interesting licks combining the two scale shapes.
Shape 3
Compared to the two above shapes, the third shape is a little bit harder to memorize since the guitarist has to move the finger up one fret on the B string to accommodate the tuning of the guitar, as the B string is often slightly different than the other strings, which affects how you press the chord or play the note.
Shape 4
The fourth shape is similar to shape 3. While playing in this shape, it can be difficult because the player needs to move your hand a little on the B string (2nd string) due to the peculiarity of the guitar tuning. However, I advise the new player to practice diligently, because in this position you can play very nice solos, especially on the 2 highest strings (B string and highest E string).
Shape 5
The fifth and final shape of the minor pentatonic scale is also symmetrical like the first shape. However, this shape is not used as often because it is hard to create passages with this shape as the other shapes above. But if the player has mastered this shape, you can combine it and smoothly transition between other shapes in the scale.
Changing The Keys In The Minor Pentatonic Scale?
If you can already remember the five A minor pentatonic scale shapes, this section will help you move on to other keys like C minor, B minor, G minor, etc. so that you can play the same scale form in different keys without having to relearn each form for each key separately.
First of all, you must identify the root note on the 6th string. The sixth string on the guitar is the lowest string, as well as the notes on this string will indicate the root note of a key. For example, if the guitarist is playing in the key of C minor, they will find the note C on the 6th string.
Secondly, you must identify the first shape of the minor five-note pattern. When the players find the root note of the key, they will know the starting note of the first shape.
Finally, you use the position of the first shape to determine the remaining shapes.
To sum up, when the guitarists know the position of the first shape of a minor pentatonic scale in any key, they quickly find the rest of the shapes in that key.
Final Thoughts
The five-note progression of minor music has been used by many famous blues and blues rock guitarists such as Albert King, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, etc. So, for beginners, you can learn the minor pentatonic scale first and gradually learn other skills later such as the major pentatonic scale.
