Minor Pentatonic Scale

The minor pentatonic scale is five notes taken from natural minor: the root, flat 3rd, 4th, 5th and flat 7th. With no half steps between them, nothing clashes, which is why it's the first scale most guitarists improvise with and the backbone of blues, rock and a lot of pop and soul lead playing. It sounds open, a little dark and very vocal, especially once you bend.

This chapter is the compact reference for the scale, in A. The free first lesson gives you the formula, all five boxes as fretboard diagrams, the sound and how to move the shapes to any key. The second lesson adds drills you won't find in the box-by-box chapter: Box 1 in sixteenths, descending groups of four, skip-a-note 4ths and a line that climbs from Box 3 to Box 5. The third lesson puts it to work over an Am7 to G rock vamp, with two original licks that land on chord tones and bend the flat 7th up to the root.