The minor pentatonic scale

The minor Pentatonic scale is a simple 5 note scale (5 notes hence the name penta means Five)
The scale often used in jazz/funk/rock/pop when playing over a single minor 7 chord and even over dominant 7 chords (the blues etc)
Its the most commonly used scale in rock along with its cousin the blues scale (same scale with an added note b5 )

I almost always use this along with the dorian scale for improvising on minor  and dominant 7 chords and for slapbass lines in minor, and i also use it over dominant 7 chords (ie E7) for a bluesy sound (the minor third instead of the major third)

Scale degrees/intervals, example in Cm:
C, tonic (1)
Eb, minor third (b3)
F, perfect fourth (4)
G, perfect fifth (5)
Bb, minor seventh (b7)

Scale formula:
Minor third step - C to Eb
Whole step - Eb to F
Whole step - F to G
Minor third step - G to Bb
Whole step - Bb to C

This series of videos shows the 5 different patterns of the pentatonic scale on the fretboard - its the same scale starting on different scale notes and positions

For the FEED subscribers out there, this post contains more more videos than the one available in the feed

 

 The 5 positions of the C minor pentatonic starting from the lowest note F: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (642)
 Lowest position starting on F (4th): (Protected Content)
 Starting on G (5th): (Protected Content)
 Starting on Bb (b7th): (Protected Content)
 Starting on C (root/1st): (Protected Content)
 Starting on Eb (minor third/b3rd): (Protected Content)
 Example in A minor, after playing the 5 different patterns, it all repeats itself just an octave up: (Protected Content)

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