Guitar scales › Minor Pentatonic Scale

A Minor Pentatonic Scale – Guitar

The first scale most guitarists learn for soloing: five notes, five boxes, and the sound of almost every rock and blues solo. 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 minor pentatonic scale

• A1
• Cb3
• D4
• E5
• Gb7

Formula: 1 – b3 – 4 – 5 – b7. Use it to solo over songs in A minor, and over A blues and rock progressions.

Same five notes as the C major pentatonic scale – the shapes are identical, only the home note changes.

A minor pentatonic scale on the whole neck

Know the scale?
Now solo with it.

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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|---------------------5-8-|
B|-----------------5-8-----|
G|-------------5-7---------|
D|---------5-7-------------|
A|-----5-7-----------------|
E|-5-8---------------------|

e|-------------------------------8--10-|
B|-------------------------8--10-------|
G|-------------------7--9--------------|
D|-------------7--10-------------------|
A|-------7--10-------------------------|
E|-8--10-------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------10-12-|
B|-------------------------10-13-------|
G|-------------------9--12-------------|
D|-------------10-12-------------------|
A|-------10-12-------------------------|
E|-10-12-------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------12-15-|
B|-------------------------13-15-------|
G|-------------------12-14-------------|
D|-------------12-14-------------------|
A|-------12-15-------------------------|
E|-12-15-------------------------------|

e|---------------------3-5-|
B|-----------------3-5-----|
G|-------------2-5---------|
D|---------2-5-------------|
A|-----3-5-----------------|
E|-3-5---------------------|

3 A minor licks to play with it

Box 1 licks from the JamEase lick library, written for A minor (h = hammer-on, p = pull-off, / = slide, b = bend, ~ = vibrato).

e|-----------------|
B|-----5-------5-8-|
G|-5-7---7-5-7-----|
D|-----------------|
A|-----------------|
E|-----------------|

e|-8p-5-----------------|
B|-------8p-5-----------|
G|-------------7p-5-----|
D|-------------------7--|
A|----------------------|
E|----------------------|

e|---------------------|
B|-8br-5---------------|
G|---------7---5-------|
D|-----------------7~--|
A|---------------------|
E|---------------------|

A minor backing track

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

A Minor Blues Backing Track - Best Backing Jam Tracks - Slow Minor Blues 80 BPM A Minor Pentatonic – Backing Jam Tracks

Songs in A minor

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

• House Of The Rising Sun – The Animals
• Hurt – Johnny Cash
• Fly Me To The Moon – Frank Sinatra
• Stay With Me – Sam Smith
• I Will Follow You Into The Dark – Death Cab for Cutie
• Skinny Love – Bon Iver
• Losing My Religion – R.E.M.
• Aint No Sunshine – Bill Withers
• Fall For You – Secondhand Serenade
• Happier – Ed Sheeran
• Mr Jones – Counting Crows
• Save Tonight – Eagle-Eye Cherry

All songs in A minor →

Other scales in A

• A Major 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

Minor Pentatonic Scale in other keys

• C Minor Pentatonic Scale
• C♯ Minor Pentatonic Scale
• D Minor Pentatonic Scale
• E♭ Minor Pentatonic Scale
• E Minor Pentatonic Scale
• F Minor Pentatonic Scale
• F♯ Minor Pentatonic Scale
• G Minor Pentatonic Scale
• G♯ Minor Pentatonic Scale
• B♭ Minor Pentatonic Scale
• B Minor Pentatonic Scale