Pentatonic Scales

The Pentatonic scale is one of the oldest scales used in music and common to many cultures. It consists of five tones and is the predecessor to the diatonic scale.

(See the definition of the diatonic scale) The Pentatonic scale is widely used in modern music and is a very melodic and a very complete, balanced sounding scale. It is one of the primary scales used for improvisation in American music such as blues and jazz.

I like to teach my beginning students pentatonic scale shapes for a number of reasons. The first being, the five shapes cover the entire neck in one key, which allows them to solo over the entire range of the guitar. Number two the shapes are very easy to see and because there are only two notes per string in each shape, it makes playing these excellent practice for alternate picking. (Picking up and down).

Print out the pentatonic scale diagrams (pdf). The shapes are numbered 1,2,3,5,6, because the starting note of each shape starts from that particular note of the Major scale.

(The major scale has eight notes, seven plus the octave.) Learning them this way follows theory and helps your ear recognize each particular note of the major scale.

Here are some beginning pentatonic scale exercises (pdf). Start with the first note of each shape on a down pick, the second note of each string should be an up pick. It is the reverse going back down the scale.

Practice each shape ascending than descending 6 times each then go to the next shape and do the same. Practice all scale shapes each day this way until they are memorized. Once they are memorized practice them with your metronome at a slow tempo and speed them up in small increments until you can play each one fast and clean. If they do not sound precise and clean back the metronome down and practice a little slower and then try speeding it up again.

Here is a PowerTab of beginning pentatonic scale exercises for those of you who like to use powertab.

I hope you find these suggestions helpful.

Alan Darby