The pentatonic scale on guitar is a five-note scale you can play in five positions that cover the whole neck. The minor pentatonic uses the 1, flat 3, 4, 5 and flat 7 of the key. Learn each position until it flows in different subdivisions, connect the positions, then practice jumping between them so you see the neck as one unit.
What if I tell you there are only five positions, five fingerings, that you really need to know to feel very free with guitar? In this lesson I play F minor pentatonic over a backing track, go through all five positions, and show you exactly how I practice them. Let’s make it a 10-day guitar challenge where we practice this every day and make it really tight.
What is the pentatonic scale on guitar?
Penta means five. The minor pentatonic has five notes, the 1, flat 3, 4, 5 and flat 7, and on guitar it lives in five positions that connect up and down the neck.
In this lesson we’re in F minor pentatonic, so the notes are F, A flat, B flat, C and E flat. When I look at a position up close, it’s very important for me to see the F notes and have them as an anchor point, because I’m listening to everything from the point of view of F. From there, this is my A flat, my B flat, my C.
I keep thinking about the relationship between these notes, because if I don’t, I’m missing a huge emotional power in the process of music. I know you know these positions. I was the same. I’d tell myself, I know, it’s pentatonic, five notes, whatever. It’s not whatever. It’s amazing, and it’s important to understand how to work with it.
How do great guitar players practice the pentatonic scale?
They dive deep into the information. They really know what they’re dealing with, and you’ll see it in two main ways: very systematic in one area of the neck, and spread out across the whole guitar.
So there are two sides to practice. The first is the pure fingerings, the physical side of each position, played in time until it’s clear. The second is breaking out of those positions so you see the notes everywhere. Steps 1 and 2 below cover the first side, and step 3 covers the second.
Step 1: How should you practice each pentatonic position?
Play one position in time and stay there until it flows. A lot of people aren’t really strict when they’re practicing the elements. They play it once and they’re like, okay, I’m done. We need to push it way above that.
- Pick a subdivision. Quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets, 16ths, whatever you want. It could be slow, it could be fast.
- Succeed many times. The point is to bring each element to a place of control and flow, not to get through it once.
- Keep F in your ears. Know which note is the 1, the flat 3, the 4 and the 5 as you play, so you hear the scale and don’t just run the shape.
Now the tempo doesn’t matter. What matters is the flow.
Rotem Sivan
I took a lesson with an amazing guitar player, and one of the interesting things he told me was that you need to bring the classical piece, or the element you’re practicing, to basically 150% more than you’re actually going to play it on the gig. The gig is 100%. That’s the speed it needs to be. But when you’re practicing and shedding, you need a high ceiling above your head. Otherwise it’s not going to feel comfortable at all.
Step 2: How do you connect the five pentatonic positions?
Learn a second position, then play the two as if they’re one. Add a third, change the subdivision, and shift between them at will.
In the video I speed it up a little, but when you’re practicing, please play it slower. As you shift, try to know the notes: C, B flat, A flat, F. The point is to get comfortable with different subdivisions and to move between these sounds, because in real life when you’re improvising, you want to imagine a sound and have it comfortably available.
That’s one of the biggest challenges, and it’s one of the places a lot of people fall. You know the positions, but you don’t really know them well enough. You don’t really hear the subdivision, and you don’t clearly see the notes.
Keep going until you’ve worked all five. At the end of the day you’ll have a collage: this F minor pentatonic sound all across the guitar.
Step 3: How do you get out of the pentatonic box?
Break the positions. Keep the F center in your ears, play notes in time, and jump between areas of the neck on purpose.
This is the exercise of breaking patterns. I have the F sound as the center, and I play notes kind of in time, but I jump between the areas to challenge myself to see the notes all across the guitar. You can make a mistake. It’s totally fine. Try to see the colors of the sound, like a musical exploration that’s almost detached from positions. Play it slower, more expressive, or in time. Find whatever tempo works for you. The idea is seeing the guitar as one unit.
Both exercises are very important. The meticulous position work zooms in on subdivisions until things are clear, and the free jumping gives you the liberty to see the board and choose notes. They highlight the guitar in different ways. We need to find the colors and connect to them emotionally, physically by knowing where they are, and by hearing them, choosing one of these five colors every time.
If you feel stuck in one pentatonic box, Solo Vision is built for that: you hear each sound, sing the note names, and work the position through double stops, three-note groupings and legato.
Your 10-day pentatonic challenge
Every day for 10 days, go fully into the five positions of F minor pentatonic. If you do it every day, it gets way, way easier. Here are the three exercises from this lesson in one place:
- One position, one subdivision. Put on a backing track with an F center, pick a position and a subdivision, and stay there until it flows. Then change the subdivision.
- Connect. Play two or three positions as if they’re one, shifting between them while you try to know every note.
- Break the box. Hold the F center and jump between areas of the neck, slowly or in time. Mistakes are fine.
Once that sound is everywhere, add one note and you’ve got the blues scale, which I break down in 7 levels of the blues scale on guitar. And if you want to see how the pentatonic fits inside the major scale, read how to learn the guitar fretboard.
Frequently asked questions
How many pentatonic scale positions are there on guitar?
Five. Each one is a fingering of the same five notes in a different area of the neck, and together they connect across the whole guitar. Learn them one at a time, then practice shifting between them until the neck feels like one unit.
What notes are in the F minor pentatonic scale?
F, A flat, B flat, C and E flat. Those are the 1, flat 3, 4, 5 and flat 7 of F. Use the F notes in each position as your anchor so you hear every other note in relation to it.
How fast should I practice pentatonic positions?
The tempo doesn’t matter. What matters is the flow. Pick a subdivision, slow or fast, and succeed many times before you move on. Aim for a high ceiling: in practice, push the element above what you’ll need when you actually play it.
How do I stop getting stuck in one pentatonic box?
Practice breaking the positions. Hold the root in your ears, play notes in time, and jump between areas of the neck on purpose to see the notes all across the guitar. Mistakes are totally fine. Pair it with careful position work so you have both sides.
Pick one position today and stay with it until it flows. Then come back tomorrow and do it again.
