The Minor Pentatonic Scale
Submitted by Alex on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 11:23
Diagram on the right shows the 5 scale patterns in the key of C.
The red dots mark the Root of the scale, which is C.
This is the most popular and easiest scale that you can play on the guitar, and you should learn it!
It has 5 notes per octave. This is why it is called PENTAtonic.
You can play this scale over any blues or rock progression in the same key. It has an aggressive character, and sounds great clean or with distortion.
If we name the scale steps of this scale, they are: 1, minor 3, 4, 5, and minor 7.
The 1, 3, 5 and 7 are very strong chord tones, so you can play them confidently, and it will sound good.
The 4 is the only note that doesn't sound very strong or resolved, but you can always bend it up to to the 5.
The fact that 4 out of 5 notes in this scale are strong is what makes it so popular and easy to learn.
It is used in many styles of music, but is especially popular in rock and blues.
Players such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton all know and use this scale.
It is an easy scale to learn, because it uses simple patterns that are easy to remember.
Learn these patterns one by one, and then practice playing them up and down.
As you become more comfortable with each of the 5 patterns, connect them together by playing from one pattern going up or down into the next pattern.
Eventually connect all the 5 patterns together - and go up and down the neck playing the scale.
Make up your own ways to play this scale, and have fun with it!
You want to start making melodies and phrases with this scale, and not just play it up and down.
Play the scale with many different rhythms and speeds.
Other notes can later be added or changed in this scale to create different "flavours".
It is a good approach to treat these 5 scale patterns as reference points for other scales in the future. For example the dorian and aeolian modes of the major scale each add 2 notes to the minor pentatonic. So, when learning new 7-note scales, you can just learn where the 2 extra notes are, and use your existing pattern knowledge, to accelerate your memorization.
Minor Pentatonic Scale
The 1, 3, 5 and 7 are very strong chord tones, so you can play them confidently, and it will sound good.
The 4 is the only note that doesn't sound very strong or resolved, but you can always bend it up to to the 5.
The fact that 4 out of 5 notes in this scale are strong is what makes it so popular and easy to learn.