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

• B1
• Db3
• E4
• F♯5
• Ab7

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

Know the scale?
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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|-------------------------------7--10-|
B|-------------------------7--10-------|
G|-------------------7--9--------------|
D|-------------7--9--------------------|
A|-------7--9--------------------------|
E|-7--10-------------------------------|

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

e|-------------------------------12-14-|
B|-------------------------12-15-------|
G|-------------------11-14-------------|
D|-------------12-14-------------------|
A|-------12-14-------------------------|
E|-12-14-------------------------------|

e|---------------------2-5-|
B|-----------------3-5-----|
G|-------------2-4---------|
D|---------2-4-------------|
A|-----2-5-----------------|
E|-2-5---------------------|

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

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|-10-7-----7--|
B|-------10----|
G|-------------|
D|-------------|
A|-------------|
E|-------------|

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

e|----------|
B|----------|
G|-7--9-----|
D|-------9~-|
A|----------|
E|----------|

B minor backing track

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

Slow As Hell B Minor Blues Backing Track | SRV Style Guitar Jam (43.33 BPM) – Now YOU Shred Backing Tracks

Songs in B minor

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

• Iris – Goo Goo Dolls
• Hotel California – Eagles
• Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
• Say Something – A Great Big World
• Wake Me Up – Avicii
• Oceans Where Feet May Fail – Hillsong United
• Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
• Home – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
• Society – Eddie Vedder
• Exit Music For A Film – Radiohead
• Diamonds – Rihanna
• Beggin – Måneskin

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