Guitar Theory: Pentatonic Scales (Page 2 of 3) in pdf

Guitar Theory: Pentatonic Scales Page 2

Minor Pentatonic Scale

The minor pentatonic pretty much is the major pentatonic scale except you shift the tonic, or 1st note to

3 frets below. So the chart’s notes remain the same but the root or tonic is different. Take a look.

I made a mistake on the B string... the blue fretted note on the 3rd fret should actually be on the

2nd fret. My bad yo. hehe

Above you can see that there seems to be fewer notes than the major and minor scales. It’s true. The

major pentatonic eliminates the 4th and the 6th of the major scale. This may be the reason it is easier to

remember. Also by eliminating the 7th it makes the scale more universally usable. The 7th note,

remember, sets the flavor of the chord. Without defining it the scale can fit over more chords. Every

single major pentatonic scale for every single key signature follows the same pattern:

W + H ... W ... W ... W + H ... W

Whole step and a half - Whole step - Whole step - Whole step and a half - Whole step

A step is the distance between 2 notes: half step = 1 fret whole step = 2 frets

So here are the notes for all of the minor pentatonic scales

Tonic (minor pentatonic scale)

flat 3rd

4th

5th

flat 7th

So obviously these two scales are related because each major pentatonic shares the same notes with its

pentatonic minor scale. Here are the scales as they relate.

Guitar Theory: Pentatonic Scales Page 2