Minor pentatonic scale is an invaluable asset to any guitar player’s arsenal, providing five distinct patterns that add both texture and variety to your riffs and solos.
Minor triads and minor 7th chords work exceptionally well when played over this scale, since these chords share notes in common with its notes – this avoids clashes in tone between scale notes.
1. Shape 1
Minor pentatonic scale has five distinct patterns, so it’s essential to familiarize yourself with all five. Don’t treat these patterns as isolated patterns you need to play separately; rather, learning all at once is one of the best ways to unlock the fretboard and play any scale freely in any key. Start by practicing each shape position by position. As an example, start by playing notes in the first pattern (sixth string, third fret). Next, move up to the fifth string and play all of its notes on this fret before returning down to play all six strings’ notes on them all – this should help get things underway! Once finished, strum a G minor chord and assess if your scale fits together well over it – if so, move forward!
Notice how similar all the shapes look? That’s because they all share a similar scale formation. They all fall exactly one octave apart which gives you plenty of scope to play a range of blues and rock licks from each one!
Add an additional challenge by including a metronome into this exercise. Set it to 60 or 70 BPM, and practice playing through each of the five shapes while practicing playing two notes per click of the metronome – this will keep your time and help cement scales into your fingers more quickly! Just be patient; this exercise takes time before it becomes effortless!
2. Shape 2
Once you have mastered shape 1 and can play it across the fretboard, the next step should be learning shape 2. Although slightly more challenging due to it requiring you to move your fingers higher up the neck, it can create some truly interesting licks if practiced carefully.
This shape is derived from the natural minor scale and contains all of its notes; however, two scale degrees were removed to create pentatonic scale degrees and reduce any chances of clashing notes causing dissonance when used over diatonic chord progressions.
Key to this scale’s unique sound when played over chords is its lack of half-steps – something many guitarists appreciate and can be an advantage when used for soloing.
If you want to practice scales, start by playing the pattern string by string until it feels comfortable before shifting it up and down the fretboard to familiarise yourself with it. Once memorised, try playing it backwards as this will help reveal more notes when used within songs.
To become familiar with this pattern, start by strumming a G minor chord and playing its notes one after another until all strings have memorised all of their respective scale notes. When comfortable with this, begin exploring ways of moving the scale around the fretboard, such as sliding notes over, hammer-ons or stretching your fingers to hit three consecutive notes on every string.
3. Shape 3
Now that you have Shapes 1 and 2 down pat, it’s time to move on to Shape 3. While playing shape 3 may prove more challenging at first, once mastered it can be applied to many playing situations. Take your time when learning this scale so you master it completely.
One important feature of this shape is that all notes move up one full step at once compared to half-steps in minor pentatonic scale, meaning fewer notes clashing and creating dissonance during solos.
This scale can easily be applied over minor triad chords and minor 7th chords as its notes closely resemble those found in natural minor scale (without flat 3rd and flat 7th) making it an invaluable blues scale that should be included in every blues player’s repertoire.
When playing this scale, use an economical fingering style that’s gentle on your fingertips – this will help ensure that you can play for extended periods without getting tired or having to move too many fretboard rows up and down.
Note that, like the other shapes we’ve covered in this article, the perfect fifth scale can be applied to any major key due to only having five notes and being structured on an interval pattern that makes every note exactly one perfect fifth higher than its predecessor – a great advantage when learning scales on guitar.
4. Shape 4
As you work on mastering scale shapes position by position, it can be beneficial to stretch yourself to start playing them laterally across the fretboard. This is an excellent way of familiarizing yourself with each scale and will be invaluable when it comes time to combine them to play melodic licks – this concept is known as extensions and I will cover more on it in future articles.
Shape 4 can be found on the top two strings. Its compact shape makes it easy to remember, while also being ideal for string bending. Although more challenging due to an additional finger shift necessary, once mastered it will open up many avenues for creating new licks.
Minor Pentatonic Scale This position of the minor pentatonic scale provides an excellent way to learn how to move between shapes. Keep in mind that positions for each scale shape overlap one another and that once you learn one position for one minor key it will likely recur for other minor keys as well.
This final lick employs an extended slide through shapes 1, 2 and 3 of the minor pentatonic scale to produce a quick melody that resolves on a bent 13th fret – which has been raised a full step. Try practicing slowly and evenly without rushing; give yourself plenty of time each day to solidify these patterns until they become second nature, connecting all five pentatonic shapes easily – don’t forget improvising over the backing track as part of this lesson too!
5. Shape 5
As with shape 3, this final form of the minor pentatonic scale may be more challenging to learn; but its worth your while as there are plenty of interesting and creative licks you can create from it, plus it provides an opportunity to transition into blues scale (which adds extra notes) without changing how your hand moves along the fretboard.
First, master this pattern by playing it over and over, becoming familiar with the shapes and intervals before exploring how you can form different riffs and melodies from each of its five patterns. Next step should be linking these patterns so they become one whole scale position sweeping across your fretboard, giving you access to it across various keys and chord progressions as well as being applied creatively in your compositions.
Utilizing these five shapes will open up the fretboard for you and allow you to navigate it more freely, creating gorgeous licks over any chord in any key. I suggest starting off by memorizing two simple symmetrical shapes; then move onto more challenging patterns that challenge you by moving your fingers in different ways as part of linking them together – it will certainly test your dexterity but the only way you will improve at anything is practice! So set aside 10 minutes a day just for practicing these patterns, and see your playing advance over time.