Minor Pentatonic Scale

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The Pentatonic scale is probably the most useful scale in almost any genre. It is one of the first scale taught and one of the last one you'll use. Penta meaning 5 and tonic meaning tone or note; the scale has only five notes, compared to most scales that have seven notes. 

The minor pentatonic notes are: root (1), minor third (3m), fourth (4), fifth (5) and minor seventh (7m). So, if you were in the key of C it would mean: C, Eb, F, G, Bb

Below is a graphic showing what the pentatonic scale looks like on the bass guitar. The green colour is the root note. So, you simply need to find the root note for the key signature you are playing in and start the scale from there.

Minor Pentatonic Scale (Bass guitar)

Minor Pentatonic Scale (Bass guitar)

This scale is used to improvise solos on different genres or to create riffs and melodies. The best way to work this scale is to practice playing going up and down the scale in different keys, so that your fingers get used to it. Once you are comfortable with it, you can start improvising with it, playing the notes with a rhythm and order of your choice. You can try to practice improvising using this blues track below. The Blues is in E, so use E minor Pentatonic.

If you have any questions, please contact us at patrice@paliatsky.com