A major pentatonic scale on 8-string guitar

A · B · C♯ · E · F♯

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 16 · The minor pentatonic.

The notes

  1. A1
  2. B2
  3. C♯3
  4. E5
  5. F♯6

The A major pentatonic scale is A, B, C♯, E, F♯.

You may also see it called 1 2 3 5 6.

On the staff

ABC♯DEF♯G♯A

On a treble staff, the A major pentatonic scale is written A B C♯ E F♯.

The solid notes are the A major pentatonic scale. The pale notes are the rest of A major, the larger scale it is carved out of, so you can see which notes it leaves out.

Why the A major pentatonic scale has these sharps

  1. A1
  2. T
  3. B2
  4. T
  5. C♯3
  6. T+S
  7. E5
  8. T
  9. F♯6
  10. T+S
  11. A8

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is T T T+S T T+S: a tone, a tone, a tone and a half, and so on. T stands for a tone, which is two semitones. T+S stands for a tone and a half, which is three semitones. The pattern is what gives A major pentatonic its sound, and it stays the same whichever note you start on.

This scale has only five notes, so it does not use every letter. It is built on A major, and the notes it shares are spelled the same way as they are there.

The pattern still does not fit the plain letters. If you walk the pattern up from A, two letters cannot keep up:

  • C♯ — the third. The pattern needs a tone from B, but B to C is only a semitone, so C has to rise to C♯.
  • F♯ — the sixth. The pattern needs a tone from E, but E to F is only a semitone, so F has to rise to F♯.

None of those accidentals was a choice. Once you pick the note to start on, the pattern decides the rest, and a key signature is a record of the result.

The A major pentatonic scale is written with C♯ and F♯, because the T T T+S T T+S pattern of steps cannot be spelled with plain letters from A.

The pattern of steps is the part of a scale that never changes. The letter names take sharps or flats to fit that pattern, and a key signature is a record of those sharps or flats.

On the piano

C4D5EFG1A2BC4D5EFG1A2BC4D5EFG1A2BC4D5EFG1A2BC4D5EFG1A2BC3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯3C♯D♯6F♯7G♯A♯C1C2C3C4C5C6

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

A major pentatonic scale on the whole neck

F♯BEADGBE123456789101112131415F♯6A1B2C♯3E5F♯6A1B2C♯3E5F♯6A1B2C♯3E5F♯6A1B2C♯3E5F♯6A1B2C♯3E5F♯6A1B2E5F♯6A1B2C♯3E5A1B2C♯3E5F♯6A1B2C♯3E5F♯6A1B2C♯3E5F♯6A1B2C♯3E5F♯6

86 notes of the A major pentatonic scale are marked across eight strings.

This is every place the notes of the A major pentatonic scale fall on the 8-string guitar, with each note's name and its scale degree. The roots are marked so you can find your bearings.

The five boxes

Box 1 — starts on the 1
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Box 2 — starts on the 2
F♯BEADGBE456782356123561235612
Box 3 — starts on the 3
F♯BEADGBE678910113561235612356123
Box 4 — starts on the 5
F♯BEADGBE9101112135612356123561235
Box 5 — starts on the 6
F♯BEADGBE1112131415166123561235612356

The A major pentatonic scale has five playable positions, at frets 2–5, 4–7, 6–10, 9–12 and 11–15.

There are five shapes, and each one starts on a different note of the scale. Once you know one shape you can slide it along the neck, and once you know all five they join up to cover the whole neck.

One climb up the neck

F♯BEADGBE3456789101112131415161718192021222324123561235612356123561235TAB3575710791291214111416141618171922192124

The climb runs from fret 3 to fret 24 and plays 24 notes.

This is one path from the lowest root to the top of the neck, and it plays each note once, never on two strings. It takes three notes on every string. The widest stretch on any one string is five frets.