Guitar scales › Minor Pentatonic Scale

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

Notes in the E minor pentatonic scale

• E1
• Gb3
• A4
• B5
• Db7

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

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

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

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

e|---------------------5-7-|
B|-----------------5-8-----|
G|-------------4-7---------|
D|---------5-7-------------|
A|-----5-7-----------------|
E|-5-7---------------------|

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

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

3 E minor licks to play with it

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

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

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

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

E minor backing track

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

Sad Slow Blues Backing Track Jam in E minor | SZBT 819 – Sebastien Zunino

Songs in E minor

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

• Let Her Go – Passenger
• Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
• Zombie – The Cranberries
• Karma Police – Radiohead
• Take Me To Church – Hozier
• Another Love – Tom Odell
• Nothing Else Matters – Metallica
• So Far Away – Avenged Sevenfold
• Ocean Eyes – Billie Eilish
• Heart Of Gold – Neil Young
• Safe And Sound – Taylor Swift
• Killing Me Softly – Fugees

All songs in E minor →

Other scales in E

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