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

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

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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:

C C^♯ D_♭ D D^♯ E_♭ E F F^♯ G_♭ G G^♯ A_♭ A A^♯ B_♭ B

Scale:

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E) Drop D Open G DADGAD

show: All Roots Intervals Degrees

highlight: All CAGED TNPS

box: C A G E D

box: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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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:

C Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: C E_♭ F G B_♭

relative key: E_♭ major

• C
• E_♭
• F
• G
• B_♭
• C

D Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: D F G A C

relative key: F major

• D
• F
• G
• A
• C
• D

E Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: E G A B D

relative key: G major

• E
• G
• A
• B
• D
• E

F Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: F A_♭ B_♭ C E_♭

relative key: G^♯ major

• F
• A_♭
• B_♭
• C
• E_♭
• F

G Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: G B_♭ C D F

relative key: A^♯ major

• G
• B_♭
• C
• D
• F
• G

A Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: A C D E G

relative key: C major

• A
• C
• D
• E
• G
• A

B Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: B D E F^♯ A

relative key: D major

• B
• D
• E
• F^♯
• A
• B

C♯ / D♭ Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: C^♯ E F^♯ G^♯ B

relative key: E major

• C^♯
• E
• F^♯
• G^♯
• B
• C^♯

D♯ / E♭ Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: D^♯ F^♯ G^♯ A^♯ C^♯

relative key: F^♯ major

• D^♯
• F^♯
• G^♯
• A^♯
• C^♯
• D^♯

F♯ / G♭ Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: F^♯ A B C^♯ E

relative key: A major

• F^♯
• A
• B
• C^♯
• E
• F^♯

G♯ / A♭ Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: G^♯ B C^♯ D^♯ F^♯

relative key: B major

• G^♯
• B
• C^♯
• D^♯
• F^♯
• G^♯

B♭ / A♯ Minor Pentatonic Scale

notes: B_♭ D_♭ E_♭ F A_♭

relative key: C^♯ major

• B_♭
• D_♭
• E_♭
• F
• A_♭
• B_♭

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.