Guitar scales › Minor Pentatonic Scale

B♭ 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 B♭: the notes, the whole neck, all five boxes with TAB, and a backing track to practise over.

Notes in the B♭ minor pentatonic scale

• B♭1
• D♭b3
• E♭4
• F5
• A♭b7

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

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

B♭ minor pentatonic scale on the whole neck

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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|---------------------6-9-|
B|-----------------6-9-----|
G|-------------6-8---------|
D|---------6-8-------------|
A|-----6-8-----------------|
E|-6-9---------------------|

e|-------------------------------9--11-|
B|-------------------------9--11-------|
G|-------------------8--10-------------|
D|-------------8--11-------------------|
A|-------8--11-------------------------|
E|-9--11-------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------11-13-|
B|-------------------------11-14-------|
G|-------------------10-13-------------|
D|-------------11-13-------------------|
A|-------11-13-------------------------|
E|-11-13-------------------------------|

e|---------------------1-4-|
B|-----------------2-4-----|
G|-------------1-3---------|
D|---------1-3-------------|
A|-----1-4-----------------|
E|-1-4---------------------|

e|---------------------4-6-|
B|-----------------4-6-----|
G|-------------3-6---------|
D|---------3-6-------------|
A|-----4-6-----------------|
E|-4-6---------------------|

3 B♭ minor licks to play with it

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

e|-----------------|
B|-6-9-6-----------|
G|-------8-6-------|
D|-----------8-6---|
A|---------------8-|
E|-----------------|

e|-------------------|
B|-------6-----------|
G|-6h-8-----8p-6-----|
D|----------------8--|
A|-------------------|
E|-------------------|

e|-------------------------------6~-|
B|-------6--9--6-----------6--9-----|
G|-6/-8-----------8--8b-8-----------|
D|----------------------------------|
A|----------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------|

B♭ minor backing track

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

Minor Blues backing Track in A# Minor | Soul Blues – Fret Junkies

Songs in B♭ minor

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

• Riptide – Vance Joy
• I See Fire – Ed Sheeran
• Stitches – Shawn Mendes
• Little Talks – Of Monsters and Men
• Let It Go – James Bay
• Rude – MAGIC!
• Chandelier – Sia
• Sparks – Coldplay
• Treat You Better – Shawn Mendes
• Give Me Love – Ed Sheeran
• Believer – Imagine Dragons
• Broken Strings – James Morrison

All songs in B♭ minor →

Other scales in B♭

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