Lesson 16 · Part 4, A scale is the notes between

The minor pentatonic

The minor pentatonic is the minor scale minus the two notes likely to clash.

On the piano

♭3C4D5E♭6F♭7G1A2B♭3C4D5E♭6F♭7G1A2B♭3C4D5E♭6F♭7G1A2B♭3C4D5E♭6F♭7G1A2B♭3CC♯D♯F♯G♯A♯C♯D♯F♯G♯A♯C♯D♯F♯G♯A♯C♯D♯F♯G♯A♯C2C3C4C5C6

The keyboard shows the same five notes as a shape you can see. The coloured keys are the A minor pentatonic scale, the pale keys are the rest of A natural minor, and you can click any key to hear it.

A minor pentatonic scale on the whole neck

EADGBE123456789101112131415E5G♭7A1C♭3D4E5G♭7A1C♭3D4E5G♭7A1C♭3D4E5G♭7A1C♭3D4E5G♭7A1C♭3D4E5G♭7A1C♭3D4E5G♭7A1C♭3D4E5G♭7A1C♭3D4E5G♭7

60 notes of the A minor pentatonic scale are marked across six strings.

This is every place the notes of the A minor pentatonic scale fall on the guitar, with each note's name and its scale degree. The roots are marked so you can find your bearings.

“Pentatonic” simply means five notes. The minor pentatonic takes the seven notes of the natural minor scale and leaves out the two most likely to cause trouble, the 2nd and the 6th. What remains is 1, ♭3, 4, 5 and ♭7.

In A that gives you A, C, D, E and G. None of those five notes sits a semitone away from a note of the A minor chord, so you can land on any of them and it sounds deliberate. Over a dominant chord such as A7, the C rubs against the chord’s C♯, and blues players use that tension on purpose. This forgiving quality is the main reason the scale is usually the first one guitarists learn.

On a piano the five notes are five keys, and you can see at once that no two of them are a semitone apart. On a guitar each of the five appears about a dozen times across the neck. That is why guitarists use boxes. A box adds no new notes. It divides the same five pitch names into groups a hand can reach.