E Minor Pentatonic Scale on guitar
The minor pentatonic is the most popular scale for rock, blues, and pop guitar solos. It's a 5-note minor scale that's easy to learn and sounds great.
The notes of E Minor Pentatonic Scale
Built on E, the scale degrees spell out like this. The degree is the number you would call that note relative to E:
Where it lands on the fretboard
Every fret from the open string up to the 12th that belongs to the E Minor Pentatonic Scale, string by string. Root notes are highlighted.
- Low E: 0, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12
- A: 0, 2, 5, 7, 10, 12
- D: 0, 2, 5, 7, 9, 12
- G: 0, 2, 4, 7, 9, 12
- B: 0, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12
- High E: 0, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12
Your anchor points: E is at fret 0 on the low E string and fret 7 on the A string. Start every pattern from one of those and you always know where home is.
Learn the "box" pattern starting on the 6th string. This is the foundation of blues guitar.
Chords that fit
These chords from RiffRoute's library use only notes inside the E Minor Pentatonic Scale, so they will not clash with it:
- G Major
- E Minor
- E Power Chord
- A Power Chord
- D Power Chord
- G Power Chord
- D Suspended 2nd
- D Suspended 4th
- A Suspended 2nd
- A Suspended 4th
Same notes, different home
These scales contain exactly the same notes as the E Minor Pentatonic Scale. The fretboard pattern is identical — what changes is which note you treat as home:
Other E scales
Same starting note, different colour. Switching between these over one E chord is the quickest way to hear what each scale does:
- E Major Scale
- E Natural Minor Scale
- E Major Pentatonic Scale
- E Blues Scale
- E Harmonic Minor Scale
- E Mixolydian Mode
The Minor Pentatonic scale in other keys
Practise it in the app
A list of frets only gets you so far. RiffRoute shows the E Minor Pentatonic Scale lit up on a full fretboard, plays it back and lets you practise it against a backing track.