Minor Pentatonic: The Boxes

The minor pentatonic is the most-used scale in blues and rock, and the first one most players improvise with. This chapter teaches all five pentatonic scale boxes in A minor, so you stop playing the same five frets and start using the whole neck.

You begin with box 1 at the 5th fret, the shape everyone learns first, and get it clean with one finger per fret and alternate picking. Box 2 sits just above it, with a slant on the B string that trips up most players. Then you connect the boxes with slides, so changing position becomes part of the phrase instead of a jump. Boxes 3, 4 and 5 complete the map up to the 17th fret, where box 1 starts again an octave higher. The last lesson turns the scale into music with sequences in groups of three and four.

Every pentatonic scale guitar tab plays in the browser with a click, and a checkpoint closes each lesson. Find the roots in every box and you'll always know where to land a phrase.