How to Play the Minor Pentatonic Scale in Every Position
Now that you’ve learnt how the Minor Pentatonic scale is made in it’s first position, it’s time to consider how you can extend this all over the fretboard in the same key.
The Minor Pentatonic scale is made up of 5 different scale shapes that all link together in the same key to give you access to the 5 pentatonic notes all over the fretboard.
The best way to start this process is to simply learn each of the shapes as a pattern. Once you’ve gotten the patterns under your fingers you can begin to look at how it all fits together. In this lesson you’ll find out a simple way to you can find these shapes faster just by using the notes on the Low E string.
Learning all the positions of the scale is great for both your fretboard mapping knowledge and your ability to move around more as you get more and more into lead guitar playing. Don’t worry if you don’t remember all these right away, it’s a gradual process that takes time to memorize.
Let’s start just by learning the remaining 4 shapes. Like the first part of this lesson, all these shapes are in the key of A Minor.
Minor Pentatonic Shape 2
Minor Pentatonic Shape 3
Minor Pentatonic Shape 4
Minor Pentatonic Shape 5
Linking the Shapes Together
Once you’ve learnt all the patterns, you then need to understand how they fit together across the guitar. There is a simple method you can use which uses the notes on the Low E string.
In the key of A, the 5 notes that make up an A Minor Pentatonic scale are A, C, D, E and G.
Lay those notes out along the low E string:
Each one of these notes is a starting point for each of the 5 pentatonic shapes:
The reason this works is because each shape starts from the next note, or the next interval. The first shape starts with an A and stacks the notes A, C, D, E and G.
The second shape starts with a C and stacks the notes C, D, E, G and A.
This continues as you move up each shape. You’re still playing the same 5 notes, but starting from a different one of the initial 5 notes each time.
This means as long as you know the 5 notes that make up the Minor Pentatonic in whatever key you’re playing in, you can easily lay these out along the low E string and each of those 5 notes gives you a starting point for each of your shapes.