The pentatonic scale is the ideal place to start learning the fretboard. It consists of 5 notes which are repeated all over the fretboard forming a number of simple shapes. It is popular to start with pentatonic shape I, show above.
The scale fits well over most chords in a song (actually most chords in a given key), so you can start playing without needing to worry about the chord being played.
It is an ideal place to start learning the fretboard, consisting of 5 notes repeated all over the fretboard. The notes form recognisable shapes. It is popular to start with Pentatonic Shape I, shown above in the key of A major.
The notes in A Major Pentatonic in two different ways.
On the right are the actual notes:
A – B – C♯ – E – F♯
On the left, exactly the same notes are shown as intervals:
1 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 6
The 1 is the root note, which in this example is A. Every other interval describes the relationship of a note to that root. So B is the 2, C♯ is the 3, E is the 5 and F♯ is the 6.
This distinction between notes and intervals is really useful. If you move the same Major Pentatonic shape to another part of the fretboard, all of the note names change, but the intervals do not. The root is still 1 and the scale is still: 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 6
For example, move the shape so that the root is G and the notes become G, A, B, D and E. The note names are different, but their roles are still 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.
The same five notes can also be used as a Minor Pentatonic scale. Although the notes are the same, the root note is different, and the note names correspond to different intervals. For example, A Major Pentatonic (A, B, C♯, E and F♯) uses the same notes as the F♯ Minor Pentatonic (C♯, E, F♯, A and B). By starting at a different point, the number of frets between each note changes, so minor intervals become:1–♭3–4–5–♭7. This sounds complicated, but in reality, means we can use the same pattern, with a different root, to play the minor pentatonic scale.
Use Scale Wizard to see how the scales look in major, minor, in different scale positions and in different keys.