The Pentatonic Scale Boxes

Hi, welcome back to the Beginner Guitar Lessons blog. Previously we have learned about the basic of pentatonic scale, both in the major chords and minor chords. To help you summarize (or maybe memorize is a better word) I write down again some important notes before we continue our lessons.

Pentatonic scale consists of 5 notes only instead of 7 notes. If you are playing in major scale just remove the 4th and 7th notes from the list. If you are playing in minor scale you have to remove the 2nd and 6th notes from the list.

Let us take C major scale for example:

C – D – E – F – G – A – B

Remove the 4th note (F) and 7th note (B) so you have to play C,D,E,G and A only.

Now let us take A minor scale for another good example:

A – B – C – D – E – F – G

Remove the 2nd note (B) and 6th note (F) so you have to play A,C,D,E and G only.

It is not a coincidence that C major and A minor are sharing the same notes because A minor is the relative minor chord of C major.

The minor chords can perfectly fit into your major guitar chord progression if you know the relationship between them. Once you study and understand the relationship you will need to memorize the pentatonic scale shapes only which represent both of the minor and major chords.

Here are the complete shapes or boxes of the pentatonic scale:

Box #1

Box #2

Box #3

Box #4

Box #5

If you follow me correctly you will see two different root notes on each box. The orange colored notes are A and the blue colored notes are C. If you start your scale from the C note you are playing a C major pentatonic scale but when you start the scale from A you are now playing A minor pentatonic scale. The most common shape is box #3 but you have to learn the other shapes as well if you want to explore your guitar fretboard better.

Let your fingers memorize the boxes by practicing them every day. Try to make some lead improvisation using these patterns using one box at a time. Once you are familiar with each box you can start connecting them to enrich your guitar solo playing.

To Your Guitar Success
-TJ-
Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin

Related posts:

1. The Pentatonic Scale
2. Guitar Chord Progression – Adding Minor Chords
3. Minor Chords
4. Guitar Chord Progression – Adding the Dominant 7th
5. Blues Guitar Lesson – 4 Notes Improvisation