Scale Explorer
Select a root note and scale to visualise positions across the fretboard.
A Pentatonic Minor
5 notesbeginnerThe most popular scale for rock and blues guitar solos.
How to use the Scale Explorer▸
Choose a root note, scale type, and tuning using the controls above. The fretboard highlights every occurrence of that scale across all 6 strings in the selected tuning. Use the Position buttons to focus on a specific neck region. Click any highlighted fret to hear the note played through your device.
Reference pitch: A4 = 440 Hz · Equal temperament tuning
Fretboard
Click any fret to hear the note · Standard: E A D G B E · A4 = 440 Hz
Compare Scale
Pick a scale above to see a side-by-side interval comparison.
Interval Reference
About the Pentatonic Minor
Five notes with no half-step tension points. Every note in the minor pentatonic sits comfortably over a minor or dominant-7th chord, making it the most immediately expressive and accessible soloing scale on guitar.
Raw, direct, emotionally immediate. The minor pentatonic works in every genre (rock, blues, metal, R&B) because its simplicity removes theory from the path and puts expression first. It bends well, phrases naturally, and works at any tempo.
Common Genres
Practice Suggestions
- 1Start with Box 1 (e.g. A minor pentatonic at fret 5) and learn two essential bends: the b3 up one whole step, and the b7 up one whole step. These two bends are the core vocabulary of blues-rock guitar.
- 2Learn all five box positions and connect them, a phrase learned in one position should be transposable to any fret on the neck.
- 3Play call-and-response: state a short phrase, then answer it a register higher or lower. Blues soloing is about tension and release, not filling every beat with notes.
- 4Deliberately use silence as sustained bends as rests, and space between phrases are more expressive than continuous playing.
When to Use A Pentatonic Minor
The minor pentatonic works over minor chord progressions, 12-bar blues, and power-chord rock. Over a blues I–IV–V (e.g. A7–D7–E7), it sits cleanly over all three chords. The b3 creates a 'blue third' tension against a major chord, a defining characteristic of blues guitar that is both dissonant and entirely intentional.