What is the pentatonic scale?
"Penta" means five. The minor pentatonic takes the seven notes of the natural minor scale and drops two of them, the 2nd and the 6th, which are the notes most likely to clash with the chords underneath. In A minor that leaves A, C, D, E, G. Fewer notes means fewer wrong ones: you can improvise over an A minor chord, or over most of the chords in that key, and land on something usable.
| A natural minor | A | B | C | D | E | F | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pentatonic keeps | 1 | – | ♭3 | 4 | 5 | – | ♭7 |
Position 1: the box everyone learns first
Put your first finger on the 5th fret of the low E string. That note is A, the root, and the whole shape sits in frets 5 through 8. Two notes per string:
| String | Frets | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1st (high E) | 5, 8 | A, C |
| 2nd (B) | 5, 8 | E, G |
| 3rd (G) | 5, 7 | C, D |
| 4th (D) | 5, 7 | G, A |
| 5th (A) | 5, 7 | D, E |
| 6th (low E) | 5, 8 | A, C |
Play it up and down slowly, saying the note names out loud. That habit is what turns a shape into something you know rather than something your hand remembers.
All five positions on the neck
Each position is the same five notes, starting from a different scale note. Slide up from position 1 and each box picks up where the last one stopped, with neighboring shapes overlapping by a note or two.
| Position | Frets (A minor) | Low E string notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5–8 | A, C (frets 5, 8) |
| 2 | 7–10 | C, D (frets 8, 10) |
| 3 | 9–13 | D, E (frets 10, 12) |
| 4 | 12–15 | E, G (frets 12, 15) |
| 5 | 14–17 | G, A (frets 15, 17) |
The blue note
Add one note to the minor pentatonic and you get the blues scale: the ♭5, which in A is E♭. In position 1 it lives on the 5th string at fret 6 (between D and E) and on the 3rd string at fret 8 (just above D). Don't park on it. Slide through it, bend into it, or touch it briefly on the way to the 5th. That passing tension is the whole sound.
Minor and major are the same shapes
A minor pentatonic (A C D E G) contains exactly the same notes as C major pentatonic (C D E G A). Nothing changes on the fretboard: play the position 1 box above against a C chord and emphasize C instead of A, and it sounds major and bright. The trick is knowing where your roots are, so you can target them. If you can see the scale across the whole neck at once, this is easy to spot; if you only know one box, it isn't.
Getting out of the box
- Learn one position per week. Play it in A minor, name every note, then improvise over an A minor backing track for five minutes.
- Find the roots in every position. The A notes are your landing pads, so you always know where "home" is.
- Connect two neighboring positions. Start a phrase in position 1, slide up and finish it in position 2.
- Move the key. Shift the whole pattern so the low-E root sits on a different fret (fret 3 for G minor, fret 7 for B minor). The shapes stay identical.
Seeing the scale, not memorizing the diagram
Most pentatonic charts show one box at a time, which is part of why people get stuck in it. The idea behind Fretkit is the opposite: choose a key and a scale, and the notes light up across the entire fretboard, so you can see how the boxes join. It covers majors, minors, pentatonics, blues and the seven modes, with correct spelling in every key, on guitar and bass. Tap a note to hear it. Pair that with the fretboard-memorizing routine and the positions above stop being five diagrams and start being one map.
See every pentatonic position lit on the neck
Fretkit shows scales across the whole fretboard for guitar and bass, with a tuner and circle of fifths built in. Free to start, native for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Your microphone audio never leaves the device.
Get Fretkit on the App StoreFrequently asked questions
What are the notes of the A minor pentatonic scale?
A, C, D, E and G: the natural minor scale with its 2nd and 6th removed, leaving five notes and no half-step clashes.
How many pentatonic positions are there on guitar?
Five. Together they cover the whole neck, and the fifth connects back to the first one octave higher, so the pattern repeats every 12 frets.
What is the difference between minor and major pentatonic?
Nothing on the fretboard: A minor pentatonic and C major pentatonic are the same five notes in the same shapes. What changes is which note you treat as home. Center on A and it sounds minor; center on C and it sounds major.