Guitar Pentatonic Scales...
the smart (easy) way!

learn the fretboard map

Learning guitar pentatonic scales is one of the first steps to soloing and improvisation.

Understanding pentatonics and their relationship(s) to the fretboard opens the door to full command of the guitar.

This article is divided into 2 sections. The first covers the basics of pentatonic scales. The second section builds on the first, and explains how to actually apply this knowledge in practice. Enjoy!

Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of this article to explore more on pentatonic scales and the guitar (there is a lot to discover).


1. Pentatonic Scales - The Basics:

As their name says, pentatonic scales contain 5 notes:

c major pentatonic scale

C Major Pentatonic Scale: C D E G A"Penta" means 5 in latin.

There are only 2 basic kinds of pentatonic scales: Major and Minor.

major and minor pentatonic scales

C Major Pentatonic Scale: C D E G A                A Minor Pentatonic Scale: A C D E G

Major and minor pentatonic scales are related

In fact, they are called relative Major and Minor pentatonic scales.
This means -for instance, in the case of C Major Pentatonic- that C Major Pent and A Minor Pent are composed of the EXACT SAME notes...

relative pentatonic scales

...in different order.

Triads and Pentatonic Scales

Another very important basic fact about these scales is that they all contain either a major or a minor triad.
This means that they all contain the Root (1), a third (major or minor, 3), the perfect fifth (5), and 2 other notes:

pentatonic scales and triads

Major and minor pentatonic scales, and their corresponding triads.


2. Guitar Pentatonic Scales, the smart way:
Harmonic and Melodic Fingerings

If we don't stretch our fingers beyond one finger per fret, we have two basic ways of playing any pentatonic scale.

All pentatonic scales contain triads, remember?
The way this plays out on the fretboard is that our basic options for playing any pent are 2:

  • we can either play all three notes in the triad at the same time
  • we can't

  • major guitar pentatonic scale

    Example of a Harmonic Fingering Pattern,
    Major Pentatonic Scale

    When we CAN play all 3 notes simultaneously...

    we call this a Harmonic Fingering:

    You will notice that all three notes in the three major triad are on separate strings, which makes it possible to play them all at once.


    major guitar pentatonic scale 2

    Example of a Melodic Fingering Pattern,
    Major Pentatonic Scale

    When we CAN ONLY play these 3 notes in sequence...

    as an arpeggio, we call it a Melodic Fingering:

    You will notice that the 3rd and the 5th of the C Major triad are on a single string. This makes it impossible to play all three notes at once...

    This principle holds true for all guitar pentatonic scales, which means we have 2 scales (major and minor) and 2 ways of playing each (harmonic and melodic fingerings) for a total of 4 fingering patterns.
    Major Pentatonic Scales

    These are the two basic ways of playing Major Pentatonic Scales on guitar:

    major guitar pentatonic scales
    Minor Pentatonic Scales

    These are the two ways of playing Minor Pentatonic Scales on guitar:

    minor guitar pentatonic scales
    Correlations...

    This may seem a little complicated, but our job at GTiD is to make hard things easy... so hold on!
    As it happens, harmonic and melodic fingering patterns are inter-related. This makes it very easy to learn them, through understanding.

    Let's take all 4 diagrams, again, in the same order, and put them all together. Take a look at this:

    guitar pentatonic scales

    Guitar Pentatonic Scales:
    The relationships between major and minor harmonic and melodic fingering patterns.

    If the relationships between these diagrams are not clear yet, take a look at this:

    Correlation 1: Major Harmonic and Minor Melodic

    Take the major harmonic fingering pattern and the minor melodic fingering pattern...

    pentatonic guitar scales

    and...

    pentatonic guitar scale patterns

    Presto!

    These two fingering patterns are the same, except you start on a different note. This should be obvious if we consider that these scales always come in pairs: remember relative major and minor pentatonic scales?

    Knowing this allows you to choose where and how you finger depending on whether you want to play chords or melody.

    Correlation 2: Minor Harmonic and Major Melodic

    Let's now take the minor harmonic fingering pattern and the major melodic fingering pattern...

    pentatonic guitar scales

    and...

    pentatonic guitar scale patterns

    Presto!

    Again, these two fingering patterns are the same, except you start on a different note (and in this case, a different string). This should be obvious if we consider that these scales always come in pairs: remember relative major and minor pentatonic scales?

    Knowing this allows you to choose where and how you finger depending on whether you want to play chords or melody.

    To summarize:
    guitar pentatonic fingerings

    With only 2 patterns, we have learned 2 ways of playing 2 different guitar pentatonic scales (which in the end we realized were the same thing): 2 stones, 4 birds. Cool, huh?!

    So what's next?!

    Now you have learned and understood the basic patterns behind guitar pentatonic scales. The next step is to find out how they relate to diatonic scales, guitar modes. This will allow you to understand, play, and improvise much more complex melodic patterns.

    guitar modes


    So far, we have merely scratched the surface of guitar pentatonic scales. There are many more interesting relationships to understand:

    Attention Guitarists!

    Stay tuned! The Book is coming!

    *** an original, in-depth analysis of the guitar fretboard ***

    Be the first to find out when it comes out by subscribing to our free eZine:

    Subscribe to our free eZine:
    e-mail

    name


    I don't spam. Your e-mail is secure.


    Other articles on pentatonic scales you may be interested in:

  • Guitar Tuning and the Fretboard: Basic to understand the relationship between pentatonic scales and the guitar
  • Musical Scales: Understand the origin of pentatonic scales and how they relate to music theory
  • Blues Guitar Lessons


  • Guitar Scales: Section Overview

    1. Scales and Modes from A to Z: section index
    2. Guitar Pentatonic Scales
    3. Guitar Modes... the smart (easy) way

    Extra article for the (extra) curious: Musical Scales, their origin and nature.


    Go back from Guitar Pentatonic Scales to Guitar Scales
    Go back from Guitar Pentatonic Scales to Guitar Theory in Depth


    Search GTiD!


    Guitar Toolbar

    Subscribe to
    GTiD

    XML RSS
    Add to Google
    Add to My Yahoo!
    Add to My MSN
    Add to Newsgator
    Subscribe with Bloglines

    What is RSS?


    Guitar Theory in Depth

    | Alex Cortés | Contact me | Why GTiD? | Donate | the 'Zine | News Blog |


    Copyright © 2008-2010, Guitar-Theory-in-Depth.com, All rights reserved