The Pentatonic Scale

The Pentatonic scale can be thought of as a diatonic scale with some notes missing! It contains only 5 notes and is the easiest to remember of all the scales.

It is also very versatile and commonly used in many types of music.

First of all, 2 Octave Patterns:

The following diagrams show 2 octaves of each scale type, starting and ending with the root note.

For an explanation of root notes, see The Diatonic Scale.

I have used Blue for Minor Roots and Red for Major Roots.

Pentatonic Minor Scale

If you play the first note starting with an A (all the Blue notes would be A's), then you are in the key of A minor, as the key takes its name from the Root Note.

You can play it in any key simply by moving the pattern up or down the fretboard so that the lowest root note (on the thickest string) falls on the required fret.

Pentatonic Major Scale

If you play the first note starting with a C (all the Red notes would be C's), then you are in the key of C major.

As before, you can play it in any key by moving the pattern up or down the fretboard so that the lowest root note falls on the required fret.

Notice that both the Major and Minor scales contain the same notes as each other. This is how keys works, every scale type you play can be two different keys, one major and one minor.

This diagram shows the Pentatonic scale with all of the Major and Minor Root Notes:

Every note shown in the diagram is valid for a lead break in the keys of C major or A minor.

For a full explanation of how keys work, see the section on Key Signatures.

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