Guitar scales › Minor Pentatonic Scale

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

Notes in the D minor pentatonic scale

• D1
• Fb3
• G4
• A5
• Cb7

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

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

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

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

e|---------------------3-5-|
B|-----------------3-6-----|
G|-------------2-5---------|
D|---------3-5-------------|
A|-----3-5-----------------|
E|-3-5---------------------|

e|---------------------5-8-|
B|-----------------6-8-----|
G|-------------5-7---------|
D|---------5-7-------------|
A|-----5-8-----------------|
E|-5-8---------------------|

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

3 D minor licks to play with it

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

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

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

e|----------------|
B|----------------|
G|-12br-10--------|
D|-----------12~--|
A|----------------|
E|----------------|

D minor backing track

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

D Minor Slow Blues Ballad BACKING TRACK JAM - 80 bpm – Backing Tracks Studio

Songs in D minor

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

• The Scientist – Coldplay
• Grenade – Bruno Mars
• Somebody That I Used To Know – Gotye
• 21 Guns – Green Day
• Little Lion Man – Mumford & Sons
• Too Good At Goodbyes – Sam Smith
• Back To Black – Amy Winehouse
• Set Fire To The Rain – Adele
• Complicated – Avril Lavigne
• Sultans Of Swing – Dire Straits
• Paradise – Coldplay
• Locked Out Of Heaven – Bruno Mars

All songs in D minor →

Other scales in D

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

Minor Pentatonic Scale in other keys

• C Minor Pentatonic Scale
• C♯ 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