The MINOR Pentatonic Scale
5 Shapes, 5 Pieces of a Puzzle That Cover the Fretboard
The Pentatonic Scale has 5 Shapes that fit together like a Jigsaw Puzzle that cover the entire fretboard. Each shape shares a “wall” with the shape on either side of it. There are no empty spots on the fretboard; once you’ve got to the end of the 5 Shapes of the Pentatonic, they just start right back over again!
You might notice that this text and the diagram below are EXACTLY the same for both the Minor Pentatonic AND Major Pentatonic on this site. (Lazy or Efficient?)… That’s because both Minor Pentatonic and Major Pentatonic share the exact same 5 shapes and they fit together in exactly the same way. Very convenient! The difference will be below with the Scale Formula and how the “Numbers” lay out over each shape.
As always, beyond just learning the “Shape” of a scale, it’s incredibly important to learn where the Scale Degrees or “Numbers” of each shape are. To do this you’ll need to know the Minor Pentatonic Scale formula.
The Minor Pentatonic Scale Formula
If you’re note sure how the Scale Formula for the Minor Pentatonic Scale (above) works, I highly recommend reading through our Basic Theory Primer, specifically the page on The Pentatonic Scales.
Each of the 5 Shapes contains the same 5 note formula but each shape starts on a different note of the scale. In Minor Pentatonic, Shape 1 starts with 1 (luckily), Shape 2 starts with b3, Shape 3 starts with 4, Shape 4 Starts with 5, and Shape 5 starts with b7. This might sound a little confusing at first but hopefully the diagrams below will help.
One more thing to note is that each Pentatonic Shape is a full two octaves (meaning the shape goes through the full Scale Formula twice) PLUS one extra note.
