Minor Pentatonic Scale
You can use MusicWheels™ to discover all the other minor pentatonic scales and their notes.
Relative Keys
Each major key has a relative minor key.
The 6th note of a major scale is
the root note of the relative minor scale.
For example, the notes of the C major pentatonic scale are:
C D E G A. The 6th note of the C major scale is A.
A is the root note of the A minor pentatonic scale. The notes of the A pentatonic minor scale are:
A C D E G. These are the same notes as the C major pentatonic scale.
The C major pentatonic scale and A minor pentatonic scale have the same relative keys, and they both have the same key signature.
The A minor pentatonic scale is the relative minor of C major pentatonic, and the C major pentatonic scale is the relative major of A minor pentatonic.
C major pentatonic scale
A minor pentatonic scale
You will notice that the following guitar patterns are exactly the same as for the major pentatonic scale.
The only difference is that the INDIGO note is the start of the minor pentatonic scale whereas the RED note is the start of the major pentatonic scale (see the section about “relative keys” above).
Guitar Diagrams
Minor Pentatonic Scale Patterns Across the Fretboard
The diagrams below show generic patterns for the minor pentatonic scale.
The indigo note is the root note of the scale, for example:
– if you wish to play the A minor pentatonic scale then the indigo root note will be the note of A
– if you wish to play the E minor pentatonic scale then the indigo root note will be the note of E and so on.
Keyboard Diagrams
