How to Play Pentatonic Guitar Scales a Beginner Guitar Lesson
Pentatonic guitar scales are usually the first venture outside of chords for most beginners. They work for rock, blues and even jazz, plus there are only 5 different shapes to remember for any key you can think of.
In this article I’m going to explain the first shape of the pentatonic scale, and give you an example for A minor. After reading this you should go grab your own guitar and give this pentatonic guitar scale a try.
What makes a scale Pentatonic?
The Penta in the name pentatonic stands for 5 notes. You play more then 5 different frets during the scale, but they are just repetitions of the basic 5 notes. Other scales usually contain more then five notes, therefore they are not as easy to memorize the shape the scale makes on the guitar neck.
The A Minor Pentatonic Guitar Scale
To get started with the A minor Pentatonic scale I’ll first give you an illustration of how it looks on the guitar neck. Assume the diagram below is starting at the 4th fret of the guitar, so the 2nd fret in from the left is actually the 5th fret on your guitar neck.
The first diagram illustrates the notes played in the A minor pentatonic scale. Notice how there are 12 notes to be played, how ever there are only 5 different notes: A, C, D G and E.
e|——|–1—|——|——|—4–|——
B|——|–1—|——|——|—4–|——
G|——|–1—|——|—3–|——|——
D|——|–1—|——|—3–|——|——
A|——|–1—|——|—3–|——|——
E|——|–1—|——|——|—4–|——
Below is a diagram explaining what fingers you should use to play this shape of the A minor pentatonic scale. Keep in mind that we’re assuming the image is starting at the 4th fret, so for the first note you’d be placing for first finger on the 5th fret of the low E string.
e|——|–A—|——|——|—C–|——
B|——|–E—|——|——|—G–|——
G|——|–C—|——|—D–|——|——
D|——|–G—|——|—A–|——|——
A|——|–D—|——|—E–|——|——
E|——|–A—|——|——|—C–|——
Portability of the Pentatonic Guitar Scale
The great thing about pentatonic guitar scales is the shapes which form the scale (such as the diagram listed above) can be used all over the neck. This example is in the key of A minor, what if you wanted to play it in the Key of G?
No problem, slide the exact same shape back and have your first note start on the 3rd fret of the low E string. That note is a G. Now just follow the exact same pattern as shown above. The second note would be on the 6th fret of the Low E (instead of the 8th as shown above).
This is the first of five different shapes for the pentatonic scales. Of course, it’s a great one to start with because the root note of the scale is the first note played.
Grab your guitar and practice playing this forwards and backwards until it feels like second nature to you. Then if you’re feeling confident see if you can find an A minor blues backing track online and try picking out a few of your own licks using this scale to jam along with.
Want to learn more about pentatonic guitar scales? Why not consider taking online guitar lessons? You can study on your own time & terms with 24 hour 7 day a week access to video lessons. If you prefer not to watch videos online you can try a beginner guitar DVD.
