The Minor Pentatonic Scale

In this lesson we are going to go over the minor pentatonic scale. The minor pentatonic scale is one of the oldest scales and is thought to originate from Mongolian and Japanese origins. This scale is one of the most widely used scale amongst rock and blues players today. Note: all formulas are based of the major scale. Here is the formula for the minor pentatonic scale. (1 3 4 5 7) As you can see the scale only contains five notes and that is why it is called pentatonic because penta means five! In this lesson you will learn the a-minor pentatonic scale. In order to change the key you are playing this scale in just change the starting note and maintain the same pattern.

a-minor Pentatonic 1	a-minor Pentatonic 2

The first example above shows just the five notes that make up the minor pentatonic scale. The second example is just the same scale repeating itself. If you were to look at the sixth note in the second example you will se it is an A note. Also in the second example i have ended on an A note which would be the start of another octave of this scale. For a more in depth discussion on the minor pentatonic scale check out the lesson on the five pentatonic positions.

The Major Pentatonic Scale

The Major Pentatonic Scale is built from the following intervals, (formula)
(1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 6) The major pentatonic scale is different from the diatonic major scale as the 4th and 7th notes are omitted. Here are a few tab examples, learn them and practice them they can be fun!! In the example below we will go over the C major pentatonic because it is relative to the a-minor pentatonic we covered above. Read the lesson on beginner music theory to get a better understanding of the relative scales.

C major Pentatonic (1)	C Major Pentatonic (2)