Western · Bluesy · versatile
Minor Pentatonic Scale
The minor pentatonic is the backbone of blues, rock and metal lead guitar: five notes, endlessly versatile, and forgiving enough to improvise over an entire song. Master it in one key and the shapes transpose straight across the fretboard.
Open the interactive Minor Pentatonic scale →On the piano keyboard
Minor Pentatonic scale shown on C
RootScale tone
Minor Pentatonic scale — degrees on C
Shown on root C — the same interval pattern applies in every key.
| Degree | Note | Interval | Arabic solfège |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C | 1 | دو |
| 2 | Eb | b3 | مي بيمول |
| 3 | F | 4 | فا |
| 4 | G | 5 | صول |
| 5 | Bb | b7 | سي بيمول |
| 6 | C | 8 | دو (octave) |
Interval formula
1 b3 4 5 b7
Minor Pentatonic scale on every key — keyboard diagrams
C
C#
D
Eb
E
F
F#
G
Ab
A
Bb
B
Minor Pentatonic scale in every key
| Key | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | C | Eb | F | G | Bb |
| C# | C# | E | F# | G# | B |
| D | D | F | G | A | C |
| Eb | Eb | Gb | Ab | Bb | Db |
| E | E | G | A | B | D |
| F | F | Ab | Bb | C | Eb |
| F# | F# | A | B | C# | E |
| G | G | Bb | C | D | F |
| Ab | Ab | Cb | Db | Eb | Gb |
| A | A | C | D | E | G |
| Bb | Bb | Db | Eb | F | Ab |
| B | B | D | E | F# | A |
Diatonic chords (key of C)
| Degree | Chord | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| I | Csus | C · F · Bb |
| II | Ebsus | Eb · G · C |
| III | Fsus | F · Bb · Eb |
| IV | Gsus | G · C · F |
| V | Bbsus | Bb · Eb · G |