How To Play All the Pentatonic Scales On The Fretboard

By Rod Ferreira

Wednesday, November 23rd 2016

If you have worked on the first lesson of this series I have good news for you! You have already mastered how to play all the pentatonic scales! They are just hidden within the diatonic.

Let's stay in the key of C major to make this easier:
C Major Scale: C D E F G A B C

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

Now to transform this scale into a pentatonic - all we need to do is remove two notes out of the scale: The F note and the B Note (Perfect fourth and Major seventh)

E--------------------------------
B--------------------------------
G------------------2--5----------
D------------2--5----------------
A-------3-5----------------------
E--------------------------------

C Major Pentatonic Scale: C D E G A C

and we can apply the same idea to all the other shapes:

E---------------------------------3--5-------
B---------------------------3--5-------------
G---------------------2--5-------------------
D---------------2--5-------------------------
A---------3--5-------------------------------
E---3--5-------------------------------------

E---------------------------------5--8-------
B---------------------------5--8-------------
G---------------------5--7-------------------
D---------------5--7-------------------------
A----------5-7-------------------------------
E---5--8-------------------------------------

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

E--------------------------------------10-12-
B------------------------------10-13---------
G-----------------------9-12-----------------
D---------------10-12------------------------
A--------10-12-------------------------------
E-10-12--------------------------------------

E------------------------------------12-15---
B-----------------------------13-15----------
G----------------------12-14-----------------
D---------------12-14------------------------
A--------12-15-------------------------------
E-12-15--------------------------------------

Observation: if you have learned those scales above as A Minor Pentatonic Scale please review “Understanding Relative Keys” article to clarify any questions.

Apply the same discipline you had on the diatonic scales to the pentatonic, play those shapes up and down until you are comfortable with them and try to switch keys using the short cuts I am showing on the video. Next time we are going to take the next step and work on the blues scales!

Rod Ferreira has been a guitar teacher for over ten years. Rod specializes in acousitc, electric, blues, and rock guitar. Sign up for a one-on-one lesson today!