Guitar scales › Minor Pentatonic Scale

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

Notes in the C minor pentatonic scale

• C1
• E♭b3
• F4
• G5
• B♭b7

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

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

C minor 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|-------------------------------8--11-|
B|-------------------------8--11-------|
G|-------------------8--10-------------|
D|-------------8--10-------------------|
A|-------8--10-------------------------|
E|-8--11-------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------11-13-|
B|-------------------------11-13-------|
G|-------------------10-12-------------|
D|-------------10-13-------------------|
A|-------10-13-------------------------|
E|-11-13-------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------13-15-|
B|-------------------------13-16-------|
G|-------------------12-15-------------|
D|-------------13-15-------------------|
A|-------13-15-------------------------|
E|-13-15-------------------------------|

e|---------------------3-6-|
B|-----------------4-6-----|
G|-------------3-5---------|
D|---------3-5-------------|
A|-----3-6-----------------|
E|-3-6---------------------|

e|---------------------6-8-|
B|-----------------6-8-----|
G|-------------5-8---------|
D|---------5-8-------------|
A|-----6-8-----------------|
E|-6-8---------------------|

3 C minor licks to play with it

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

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

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

e|-------------|
B|-------------|
G|-8---10------|
D|---------10~-|
A|-------------|
E|-------------|

C minor backing track

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

Sexy Slow Blues Backing Track in C Minor | Bonamassa Style Jam Track (44.666 BPM) – Now YOU Shred Backing Tracks

Songs in C minor

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

• When We Were Young – Adele
• Rolling In The Deep – Adele
• Jar Of Hearts – Christina Perri
• Crazy – Gnarls Barkley
• She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5
• Apologize – OneRepublic
• Impossible – James Arthur
• This Love – Maroon 5
• Sorry – Justin Bieber
• Coco - Remember Me Lullaby – Misc Cartoons
• Skyfall – Adele
• Baby One More Time – Britney Spears

All songs in C minor →

Other scales in C

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

Minor Pentatonic Scale in other keys

• 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
• B Minor Pentatonic Scale