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A minor pentatonic scale in all fingering positions. Minor pentatonic scale on guitar

Even if you really didn’t want to study pentatonic, but with this fatal reluctance, you would really like to come up with cool solos on acoustic or electric guitar, sooner or later you would still get to know her. It's unavoidable. Why?

The pentatonic scale on the guitar - was, is and will be, because ...

It is difficult to say which of the famous guitarists, and what are the famous ones, all guitarists, as well as keyboardists, bassists and other musical fraternity (except drummers of course) do not use pentatonic scales; improvisation without a pentatonic scale in such styles as blues and rock is a difficult thing to imagine in principle.

In particular, for six-string guitar The pentatonic scale opens up unlimited possibilities. Again, the great string maestros are proof of that. Eric Clapton, for example, manages to produce countless melodic phrases over the course of eleven bars in one box, and one does not resemble the other. Yngwie Malmsteen: no matter how high-speed passages he “shoots”, he still makes room for the canonical five-step scale (his composition Magic Mirror is one of the many clear examples). And Ritchie Blackmore, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page? Well, about these gurus, in general, as they say, no comments.

If you don’t know how to play the pentatonic scale on the guitar, but want to become a cool guitarist, be sure to start learning it. It is a powerful, indestructible foundation of the musical temple, called "Fundamentals of Improvisation".

The motives of knowledge are voiced, the excursion is over. Pick up the guitar - it's time to start!

Brief theoretical introduction

So, the pentatonic scale is a five-step mode. That is, unlike diatonic scales, it consists not of seven, but of five sounds. This, in fact, is all its power. IN ancient China(just think!), in the 7th century, it was elevated to the status of a philosophical postulate: each note of the scale meant a certain magical effect on society. Or maybe there really is “it” in it, who knows how it was there and how it is now ... 🙂

There are major and minor pentatonic scales. Let's look at the formulas in detail:

That is, if the II and bVI steps are removed from the natural minor scale, the minor pentatonic scale is obtained. For example, from A (la) it will be: la (I) - to (III) - re (IV) - mi (V) - G (VII).

Now the major pentatonic scale on the guitar is like that.

C major pentatonic can be obtained by removing natural C major scale IV And VII steps. Accordingly, its formula is: I (do) - II (re) - III (mi) - V (sol) - VI (la).

Please note that the C major and A minor pentatonic scales consist of the same sounds, but at the same time they have a different interval structure. That is, they are subject to the rule of paired keys major-minor, which have the same number of accidentals in the key.

For example:

C major - A minor
G major - E minor (F sharp)
D major - B minor (F, C sharp), etc.

It turns out that the pentatonic boxes on the guitar regarding this property are universal. In other words, the C major and A minor pentatonic scales have the same fingering on the fretboard. However, the location of the tonal center and other steps are different from each other.

Minor:

Major:

For example, the first sound La in box V position relative to major (C) - sixth (6), an unstable step, and relative to the minor (Am) - this is the 1st step, tonic (T).

Listen to how the scale sounds in the same box on a C chord

And to Am7 chord(A minor seventh chord):

Accordingly, the tonal gravitation is different. If figuratively - there is a contrast of mood.

Let's take a closer look at how the minor pentatonic scale is played on the guitar. That is, we will study the fingerings relative to Am - the tonal center A (la).

Practical lessons

You can play the exercises below both under the metronome and under the backing track that sounds in the audio examples. This is already as you like, although playing the pentatonic scale to the accompaniment is more interesting - more musicality appears in the lessons, but at the same time, the performing technique develops.

Download backing tracks at 50 BPM:

II position (from VII step)

Playing the pentatonic scale in the second position starts from the note G (sixth string, 3rd fret).

This and all subsequent examples are played with an alternating mediator stroke (up / down) at a tempo of 50 beats per minute - two sounds per string. Near each note is a number - it indicates which finger to press the string.

The pentatonic scale on the guitar can also be played in another "fingering".

The accompaniment sounds one single chord - Am7 (A minor seventh chord). Listen to how Ex.1 is played:

And now take apart the tabs/notes of Ex.1 and try to play in sync with the recording, and then under the minus.

In the process of playing, comprehend each extracted sound, i.e. what note and what degree of fret sounds in this moment. Listen to the sound of steps in relation to the chord (in this case to Am): I (la - tonic), III (do - small third), V (mi - fifth) - stable tones; and here IV (re - quart) and VII (septim) sound more intense. Get a Skill auditory perception, without it, improvisation is nowhere.

Perhaps at first it will seem incredibly difficult for you to play in sync and think, listen to every sound. But, believe me, these efforts will pay off handsomely. You study the location of notes on the fretboard, train by ear to determine the tonal gravity of steps, and, of course, develop finger fluency. The effectiveness of the lesson increases significantly.

Do not rush to take on the analysis of a new box without mastering the previous one. Studying the pentatonic boxes on the guitar on the principle of "galloping through Europe", in essence, you will be left with nothing - as a result, "clumsy" sound production and a vague idea of fingering.

Use this sequence of analysis of the exercise, also when mastering subsequent positions.

V position (box from the tonic of a minor chord, I steps)

A very, very favorite fingering by all guitarists in the world. Perhaps you have already come across tablature with the use of this box more than once or twice.

Now exercise:

We understand, we listen, we play:

VII position (from bIII step)

Within the first three strings of this fingering, an incredible amount of beautiful blues clichés is built. (Just in case, one more moment of motivation, if for some reason you start to cool down to the pentatonic scale on the guitar. 🙂)

Fingering (played from note Do):

Tabs/Notes Ex.3

Audio example:

IX position (from IV step)

Fingering (built from Re):

Tabs/Notes Ex.4

Audio example:

XII position (from the V step)

Fingering (built from Mi):

Tabs/Notes Ex.5

Having mastered all the boxes of the pentatonic scale, or selectively, one of the boxes, play them on a major chord - C (download the backing track for the lesson -). In the same way, analyze the location of the steps on the fingering (see the diagram at the beginning of the article). Structure major pentatonic scale: I - II - III - V - VI(if in C major, these are the notes - do - re - mi - sol - la). Do not forget, do not confuse with the minor.

Fruitful work for you!

Sounds included in the E minor pentatonic scale

Fretboard diagram

The names of the notes included in the E-minor pentatonic scale

The sequence of sounds of the pentatonic E minor is as follows: Mi (E) - Sol (G) - La (A) - Si (H) - Re (D)

Instructions for using the E minor pentatonic scale

The E minor pentatonic scale can be used in songs written in the key of E minor, as well as in the key of G major. Use it for fills, rock passages, pentatonic licks, and simple catchy melodies. The E minor pentatonic scale can also produce superb rhythmic guitar parts. Use bluesy notes from the blues scale in this pentatonic scale if necessary to make your riffs sound dirtier.

(Speaking of the blues, by the way. I have a great free course called Basics of the Blues for Beginners. I encourage you to sign up for it.)

Pentatonic E-minor, crushed by positions. In each of these positions, three notes are played on each of the strings.

Position #1

Position #2

Position #3

Many novice guitarists underestimate the importance of playing scales, this activity seems boring and even tedious to them, but let's look for the pluses in this matter, and there are quite a few to say:

By studying and playing scales, you will be able to learn the location of notes on the fretboard much faster, which we wrote about in the previous article: yes, in general, the neck will feel better, the accuracy of changing positions and understanding of guitar fingering will increase;
Daily playing of scales will increase the fluency of the fingers of the left hand, increase the accuracy of working with the mediator of the right, but most importantly, along with this, their synchronization will also develop, which directly affects the speed, purity and accuracy of your performance;
Scales develop ear well, a sense of rhythm and are an excellent basis for future improvisations.

Now that it has become obvious to us that playing scales is extremely useful, we can move on to studying them. And where better to start than with the bread and salt of any guitarist - minor pentatonic scale? Right from nothing, because it is the cornerstone not only of the blues guitar, but of all modern guitar music, one way or another, the pentatonic scale is used by almost all eminent guitarists, and not just bluesmen from the Mississippi Delta.

Minor pentatonic scale

The pentatonic scale is a scale of the scale of which consists of five steps, all the notes of which can be arranged in pure intervals (fourths or fifths). The figure below shows the fingering of the A minor pentatonic scale, with black dots on which the tonic notes are indicated (that is, the first most stable notes in the scale that determine its key, in A minor it is the note la).

You can play this fingering from any fret, while you need to remember that moving it along the fretboard will change the tonic, and hence the tonality of the scale, but we will talk more about transposition in one of the following articles, but for now we will focus entirely on A minor pentatonic.

Pentatonic Exercises

To begin, play the ascending passage shown on the tablature below:

It should be played with an alternating stroke (alternate strokes with a plectrum down and up, if you suddenly forgot or did not read our article). Remember to keep the rhythm, ideally play this passage under the metronome. After you get used to it and you start to succeed quickly enough and without errors, you can add a descending

Blues pentatonic scale

Blues scale or blues pentatonic scale- this is the same pentatonic scale, but with an additional note lagging behind the tonic by a reduced fifth, respectively, in the scale instead of five notes, six are a, do, re, red sharp, mi and salt, the figure below shows the fingering for A minor blues pentatonic

This scale, thanks to the so-called blues note, in the case of the A minor pentatonic scale is re sharp, sounds very bluesy, but is no less loved by rock musicians.

Blues scale exercises

As an exercise based on the blues scale, you can use a passage very similar to that one. what was used with the A minor pentatonic scale: from the beginning ascending, and then descending

Conclusion

In addition to being a good scale for practicing technique, the pentatonic scale is also an excellent basis for improvisation, but we'll talk about that a bit later. In the meantime, learn the pentatonic scale and blues scale, paying special attention to the purity of performance and rhythm.

It's called the pentatonic scale on the guitar. special kind scale, consisting of 5 steps of the main scale.

Any simple major or minor scale will contain 7 steps (according to the number of incoming notes), and only 5 steps will be used in the pentatonic scale, respectively, 5 notes of the major or minor scale.

When it comes to the pentatonic scale, it doesn’t really make sense to talk about minor or major, since the pentatonic scale is quite original and is used in many musical styles guitar game.

The pentatonic scale is an integral part of blues, jazz, country and can be played in rock music, pop songs, funk, rap and even metal.

Here is such a wonderful range, which is always and everywhere used.

Now we invite readers-musicians of the site to get acquainted with the training video from a beautiful girl - Nina Yakimenko.

If you wish, you could also purchase her tutorial or search for other videos on the channel.

Pentatonic on the guitar: sheet music and tabs. How to play the pentatonic scale

1. The first example both in the video and in the tablature is the pentatonic scale from the note LA (sixth string - fifth fret), which is played in the second position.

In this case, the first note LA on the sixth string is played with the little finger.

The position of your fingers while playing should remain constant and stable. The fingers can move up and down the frets, but do not move left or right.

Each finger has its own fret, on which it plays all the falling notes.

Setting in the second position (position name from the name of the lowest fret of the guitar) is as follows:

- second fret fretboard - index finger;
- third fret - middle finger;
- fourth fret - ring finger;
- fifth fret - little finger.

This position of the fingers must remain constant until you change position. In the Guitar Pro tabs that you download from our site, this is the first group of notes.

2. Now we play the same pentatonic notes (5 notes without semitones), only in the fifth position.

The position number for the hand is the number of the lowest fret on the guitar that is pressed down with your fingers.

We do not go below the 5th guitar fret here, which means that this is the fifth position on the fretboard.

The setting of the fingers for playing the pentatonic scale LA in the fifth position is as follows:

- fifth fret - index finger;
- sixth fret - middle finger (it should be in its own fret even when it does not clamp any strings);
- seventh fret - ring finger;
- eighth fret - little finger.

3. The next 2 groups of notes are pentatonic guitar exercises that are shown in the video.

Here, in fact, you play the same notes from the pentatonic scale from the note LA, only you constantly return one previous step back.

Download tablature and understand everything yourself. The same course of the training exercise is accessible and clearly shown in the video. There is nothing complicated here.

IMPORTANT: When you play scales or exercises, make sure to make a minimum of unnecessary movements.

For example, keep your fingers always on your strings and your frets, even if the notes on them at a certain moment do not sound.

Don't fidget around the frets, play everything in one or another specific position. Do not carry alone index finger along the string from the first to the twelfth fret - you have other fingers for this!

IMPORTANT: If you are just learning how to play, be sure to use a metronome.

IN Guitar program The Pro 5 (which you'll need to open our sheet music and tabs) has a built-in metronome and needs to be used.

Also in this program, in a couple of minutes, you can sketch out the simplest rhythmic drum part, or at least accentuate strong beats (we registered the beats of the proposed metronome).

IMPORTANT: Start at low speeds until you can play all the notes in the correct positions. Then the tempo of the metronome can and should be increased, developing the technique and speed of your playing.

Here it is also necessary to say that the notes of the pentatonic scale should be taken exclusively from the notes of your scale. In A minor and C major, there are no sharps or flats in the key.

Here all these notes will sound as they should. If you want to play with the pentatonic scale, for example, E minor, you will have to take notes from the same MI scale.

In general, in terms of pentatonic scale, you can say a lot, a lot more, but the basics from this video exercise will be enough for now.

The pentatonic scale will be discussed in more detail in other exercises of the site and in the "elementary theory" section.

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