Minor Pentatonic Scale Piano & Guitar Reference
An interactive piano and guitar reference to the minor pentatonic scale. The
minor Pentatonic scales have 5 notes per octave and are
constructed from the
natural minor scale by
omitting the 2nd and 6th scale degrees.
From the major scale, the formula for the minor pentatonic scale is
1
♭3 4 5 ♭7 .
The minor Pentatonic scales are generally easy to play and naturally sound
good as they are composed of stable tones and omit the more unstable tones
from their natural minor scale counterpart.
To help you come up with interesting minor pentatonic melodies, take a look at
pentatonic exploration.
→ see also: major pentatonic scale
Minor Pentatonic Scale Formula
From the natural minor scale degrees:
To the minor Pentatonic scale:
Let's start with a reference table of the Pentatonic minor scales. Hit play on any scale to play its pitches up and down:
| C | E♭ | F | G | B♭ | C | |
| C♯ | E | F♯ | G♯ | B | C♯ | |
| D | F | G | A | C | D | |
| D♯ | F♯ | G♯ | A♯ | C♯ | D♯ | |
| E | G | A | B | D | E | |
| F | A♭ | B♭ | C | E♭ | F | |
| F♯ | A | B | C♯ | E | F♯ | |
| G | B♭ | C | D | F | G | |
| G♯ | B | C♯ | D♯ | F♯ | G♯ | |
| A | C | D | E | G | A | |
| B♭ | D♭ | E♭ | F | A♭ | B♭ | |
| B | D | E | F♯ | A | B |
Minor Pentatonic Scale on Guitar
Here you can visualize the different keys of the minor pentatonic scale on the guitar fretboard. You can highlight the notes in each of the minor pentatonic scales using the CAGED or the Three Notes Per String (TNPS) systems.
Select a Key:
Scale:
Minor Pentatonic Scale on Piano
And now for each of the Pentatonic minor scales in more detail and on the piano keyboard. Again, you can hit play to play each scales up and down:
Piano Samples
The piano samples used for this minor pentatonic scale reference are from “Salamander Grand Piano V3” by Alexander Holm, licensed under CC BY 3.0.
