The Pentatonic Scale on Guitar: All Five Positions
The most-used scale in rock and blues, how it connects across the whole fretboard, and how to stop playing in the same spot every time.
By Damián Calle ·
The pentatonic scale has only five notes, and that’s what makes it so forgiving: it’s hard for any of them to sound wrong over the chords. The A minor pentatonic, for example, is A, C, D, E, and G.
Why five positions
Those five notes repeat all the way up the fretboard. Group them into shapes that fit comfortably under your hand and you get five “boxes,” or positions. The first one—the one almost everyone learns—starts at the 5th fret for A minor. The other four link together going up the neck until you’re back at Position 1 an octave higher, at the 17th fret.
How to practice them without getting bored
- Learn Positions 1 and 2, then play a phrase that starts in one and ends in the other.
- Find the root (A) in each position. Ending your phrases on the root makes them sound resolved.
- Put on a slow backing track in A minor and stick to just two positions for a week. Only then add a third.
The next step
Once all five positions are connected, try adding the blue note (Eb in A minor) and you’ve got the blues scale. That’s enough vocabulary to keep you busy for years.
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