Home > Scales > Minor Pentatonic

Into The Minor Pentatonic Mode

The Minor Pentatonic Mode

This is the most common scale in blues, pop and rock music.It is easy to learn and is essential for learning to improvise in a blues style. ‘Penta' means five and ‘tonic' means note, so ‘ Minor Pentatonic Scale' really just means ‘Minor Five-Note Scale'. The reason we learn scales is that they are groups of notes that sound really good together that we can use to make up solos (as in lead guitar) and melodies. We'll get to that later on. They are also great for developing your technique for playing single notes, so they are an important part of your development as a guitar player.

The Minor Pentatonic Mode Theory

The Minor Pentatonic works predominantly over minor chords due to its minor 3rd interval. Let's have a play around with the boxed patterns to begin with. The idea is not just to play it in sequence, from root to root, but rather skip around the scale and find interesting hooks and phrases. Move up and down the scale, vertically and horizontally. Many guitarists use the "call and response" technique, which is where you play a phrase that sounds unresolved (e.g. it might have the characteristics of asking a question), then you "respond" with a more resolving phrase (e.g. a sequence that ends on the root note or another "safe note").

Other safe target notes for your phrases are the minor 3rd and 5th of the scale. Incidentally, these are referred to as "chord tones" because they make up the minor triad (1 b3 5). Targetting chord tones helps to keep your solos connected to the backing music.
Remember That!
Another common technique is to stagger your way up or down the scale in a run. This is where you move up and/or down a scale in a repetitive sequence.