Guitar scales › Major Pentatonic Scale

A Major Pentatonic Scale – Guitar

The bright, sweet-sounding pentatonic: country, pop and classic rock solos over major-key songs. Here it is in A: the notes, the whole neck, all five boxes with TAB, and a backing track to practise over.

Notes in the A major pentatonic scale

• A1
• B2
• C♯3
• E5
• F♯6

Formula: 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 6. Use it to solo over songs in A major.

Same five notes as the F♯ minor pentatonic scale – the shapes are identical, only the home note changes.

A major pentatonic scale on the whole neck

Know the scale?
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• Every note on the neck, with sound and TAB
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The 5 boxes (positions) with TAB

Each box is one hand position. Learn Box 1 first: play it up with the TAB, then back down, then move to the next box – together they cover the whole neck.

e|---------------------5-7-|
B|-----------------5-7-----|
G|-------------4-6---------|
D|---------4-7-------------|
A|-----4-7-----------------|
E|-5-7---------------------|

e|-------------------------------7--9--|
B|-------------------------7--10-------|
G|-------------------6--9--------------|
D|-------------7--9--------------------|
A|-------7--9--------------------------|
E|-7--9--------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------9--12-|
B|-------------------------10-12-------|
G|-------------------9--11-------------|
D|-------------9--11-------------------|
A|-------9--12-------------------------|
E|-9--12-------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------12-14-|
B|-------------------------12-14-------|
G|-------------------11-14-------------|
D|-------------11-14-------------------|
A|-------12-14-------------------------|
E|-12-14-------------------------------|

e|---------------------2-5-|
B|-----------------2-5-----|
G|-------------2-4---------|
D|---------2-4-------------|
A|-----2-4-----------------|
E|-2-5---------------------|

A major backing track

Play the boxes over this, starting and ending phrases on the gold root notes.

Medium Slow Blues Backing Track in A Major | 65 bpm – Elite Backing Tracks

Songs in A major

These songs are in A major, so this is a scale that fits for soloing over them:

• Someone Like You – Adele
• Take Me Home Country Roads – John Denver
• Whats Up – 4 Non Blondes
• The A Team – Ed Sheeran
• Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
• Somewhere Only We Know – Keane
• Wicked Game – Chris Isaak
• It Will Rain – Bruno Mars
• Fast Car – Tracy Chapman
• Stand By Me – Ben E. King
• Halo – Beyoncé
• Tears In Heaven – Eric Clapton

All songs in A major →

Other scales in A

• A Minor Pentatonic Scale
• A Blues Scale
• A Major Blues Scale
• A Major Scale
• A Natural Minor Scale
• A Dorian Mode
• A Mixolydian Mode
• A Phrygian Mode
• A Lydian Mode
• A Harmonic Minor Scale
• A Melodic Minor Scale

Major Pentatonic Scale in other keys

• C Major Pentatonic Scale
• D♭ Major Pentatonic Scale
• D Major Pentatonic Scale
• E♭ Major Pentatonic Scale
• E Major Pentatonic Scale
• F Major Pentatonic Scale
• F♯ Major Pentatonic Scale
• G Major Pentatonic Scale
• A♭ Major Pentatonic Scale
• B♭ Major Pentatonic Scale
• B Major Pentatonic Scale