The Minor Pentatonic Scale System – F minor

It’s easy to get tangled up in the guitar scales department. There are literally thousands of scales to learn. Do you have to know all these scales to play guitar? Fortunately the answer is a resounding NO! 

So the question is: which scales should we learn and which scales can we drop of at the nearest bus stop?

High on your priority list should be the minor pentatonic scale. This is the scale most guitar players learn first. The problem is they tend to get it confused with the blues scale which is similar but not the same.

Minor Pentatonic scale system – F minor pentatonic.

The notes in the F minor pentatonic scale are:

F – Ab – Bb – C – Eb – (F)

If you played these notes anywhere on the guitar fingerboard you would be playing the F minor pentatonic scale.

Here’s the most common fingering pattern for the scale:

F – using your first finger behind the first fret, sixth string

Ab – played with the fourth finger, fourth fret, sixth string

Bb – first finger, first fret, fifth string

C – played with your third finger behind the third fret, fifth string

Eb – first finger, first fret, fourth string

F Minor pentatonic scale pattern

————————-

————————-

————————-

—————–1—[3]-

———1—3———–

-[1]—4—————–

Keynotes indicated as [ ]

Keynotes are important as they identify the key of the scale pattern when it’s moved around the fingerboard.

Pentatonic scales are five note scales, notice how both the first and last notes of the scale are exactly the same letter name.

Play the scale slowly listening closely to the ‘sound’ of each note. when you are ready to move on try playing the next pattern, it’s exactly the same notes only an octave higher.

F minor pentatonic played one octave higher:

———————-[1]-

————–1—4——-

——1—3—————

-[3]———————-

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————————–

Once the octave fingering and the sound of the notes become familiar try playing the original scale, stop for four beats, play the octave version, wait four more beats and then go back to the original version.

Continue practicing like this until everything works on autopilot.

Creating a backing track.

Our next project is to record a backing track that we can practice our scale over.

A good idea is to use power chords derived from the names of the notes in the scale. Therefore any of the following notes will work as keynotes for power chords:

F – Ab – Bb – C – Eb

Typical chord progression(s) would be:

F /// | Ab /// | Bb /// | C /// ||

or

F /// | Bb /// |C /// | Bb /// ||

Make up your own progressions and record them for 5 – 10 minutes. That way you will have plenty of backing track to solo over. If the backing track is too short you will be just starting to develop your ideas and the background will stop.

About the Author:
Mike Hayes is a guitar teacher, author, performing musician and session guitarist with over 30 years of professional experience. Find out more about how to learn guitar fast with his popular FREE e-course, by clicking here