The Minor Pentatonic Box

Time to play over the form instead of under it. The minor pentatonic scale is five notes, it sits in one compact shape on the neck, and it is the raw material of most blues, rock and soul lead playing ever recorded.

One fact surprises beginners: over a blues in A major, you play A minor pentatonic. The clash between the minor third in your scale and the major third in the chord underneath is not a mistake — it is the central sound of the genre.

The shape starts with your first finger on the fifth fret and covers two notes per string.

A Minor Pentatonic

A minor pentatonic. The first box starts at the 5th fret — learn that one thoroughly before you look at any other position.

Practise it up and down until your fingers know it without your eyes. Then stop practising it as a scale, because nobody wants to hear a scale.

Instead, play three notes and stop. Leave a bar of silence. Play three more. A solo is a conversation, and beginners talk far too much.

One more rule that will make you sound instantly more musical: land on the root note, A, at the start of a bar. The ear hears that as a sentence ending properly.

A slow blues in A at 60 bpm — about as much thinking time as you will ever get. Three notes, then silence.