So far in this pentatonic series, we've been developing a horizontal approach to learning the pentatonic scale. You've practised the scale on single strings, string pairs, and connecting pairs with slides. Now it's time to get vertical and take a walk on the road most travelled.

The 5 pentatonic positions simplify the fretboard into shapes that are easy to identify and navigate. Learning them will serve you very well. However, these pentatonic 'boxes' can become like prisons which some poor souls never escape.

Since you've already developed some tools (in lessons 1, 2 & 3) to break out of these prisons, you will never have to worry about this problem… if you've been doing your homework so far. Have you?

Don't underestimate the value in learning these positions. They are integral to developing a horizontal approach across the whole fretboard. With that said, here we go.

My advice is to use the diagrams, but try to get off the page as quickly as possible. Think of it like you're about to have an exam and you can't take a cheat sheet in with you. How do you do that? You look for patterns — things that are the same, things that are different — spend some time looking closely at what you're about to play. Do this and you'll save a ton of time.

The Positions

The Classic 5th Fret Position

In the 5th fret position, the first note on every string is on the 5th fret. Use your 1st finger for that note on every string. Now you know 50% of the notes in that position — play them all right now! Next, try to notice something about the other 50%.

You can see that some notes are on the 8th fret and some are on the 7th fret. For the 8th fret notes (strings 1, 2 and 6), use your 4th finger. Play just those three strings, then combine with the 5th fret notes on those strings. Next, the remaining strings (3, 4 and 5) all use the 7th fret — use your 3rd finger. Play them, then combine all notes into the full position.

Now you're ready to play the whole thing, and you're likely to get it correct. Most people just read through it, make mistakes, learn those mistakes, and then take ages to finally get it right. Taking a few extra moments to look before you play is worth it every time.

A minor pentatonic — Box 1 (5th fret position)

The 12th Fret Position

The 12th fret position is almost exactly like the 5th fret position. Start by shifting the entire 5th fret position up to the 12th fret. Every note that was on the 8th fret is now on the 15th, and every 7th fret is now on the 14th.

What you just played is called the E minor pentatonic scale. Em pentatonic is exactly the same as Am pentatonic except that Em pentatonic has a B in it instead of a C. So now take your Em pentatonic and move all the B's up to C's — and you have Am pentatonic in the 12th fret position.

Notice that the first note on the 2nd string is on the 13th fret, and the 2nd note on the 5th string is on the 15th fret. Those are the C's. It doesn't quite feel as comfortable as the 5th fret position, does it? That's why the 5th fret position is so popular — it's that 13th fret that makes this position less friendly under the fingers.

A minor pentatonic — Box 4 (12th fret position)

The 3rd Fret Position

Next easiest (in my opinion) is the 3rd fret position. We've already learned all the 5th fret notes when we learned the classic position, so we've got 50% of them down already. This time though, use your 4th finger on the 5th fret of each string instead of the first.

The other notes are either on the 2nd fret or the 3rd fret. Use your 1st finger for 2nd fret notes, and your 2nd finger for 3rd fret notes. This fingering is great for committing the position to memory and for practising your weakest finger. Notice the first note on every string follows this pattern: 3 3 2 2 3 3. Easy to remember!

A minor pentatonic — Box 5 (3rd fret position)

The Open Position

The open position is just the 12th fret position down an octave. All the 12th fret notes become open strings. That annoying C note on the 13th fret of the 2nd string moves to the 1st fret. Look carefully at Fig. 1d before playing it, then try to play the whole thing correctly first go.

A minor pentatonic — Box 4 (open position)

The 10th Fret Position

The 10th fret position forces your left hand to shift out of position a little bit. Notice that strings 6, 5, 4 and 1 are all the same — 10th fret and 12th fret. That's easy to remember, so focus more on the other two. Spend extra time memorising strings 2 and 3. You don't always have to practise the whole position — working on the challenging parts specifically will serve you better.

A minor pentatonic — Box 3 (10th fret position)

The 8th Fret Position

The final position sits right next to the classic 5th fret position. We've already played all of these notes as part of other positions — the notes on the 7th and 8th frets are from the classic 5th fret position, and the notes on the 9th and 10th frets are from the 10th fret position we just learned.

Play the first note on the 8th fret of the 6th string with the 2nd finger. This will set you up to play all the notes in the position without shifting. There are other fingerings that work well, but use this one while you're learning it.

A minor pentatonic — Box 2 (8th fret position)

Patterns

Now that you've learned all the positions, you need to get out of just playing them up and down in order. Patterns help you build language with the harmonic material you learn. We're not learning these patterns to spew them out when we play — we're learning them so we can have flexibility all over the guitar.

The 3 Consecutive Note Pattern

This is exactly what it sounds like. Start from the first note and play 3 consecutive scale notes. Then start from the 2nd note and play the next 3 consecutive notes. Then start from the 3rd note, and so on. Continue this through the entire position, both ascending and descending.

Once you've played it through the 5th fret position a few times correctly, apply it to every other position — open, 3rd fret, 8th fret, 10th fret, and 12th fret. For the upper positions, the same pattern continues upward from where you run out of room. If you want to extend further, shift any exercise up 12 frets.

Pro Tip
Apply any pattern you know to every position. You now have the process — take any pattern in A minor pentatonic and run it through all six positions.

The 4 Consecutive Note Pattern

The same concept extended to four notes. Play the first 4 consecutive scale notes, then start from the 2nd note and play 4, then start from the 3rd note, and so on. Work this through every position just as you did with the 3-note version.

Final Thoughts

If you wanted, you could now go nuts learning as many patterns as possible. But I'd settle down and concentrate on really knowing these positions — so you can't get them wrong — and then nail these patterns. Once you feel comfortable with that, move on to the next lesson in this series.

Good luck and have fun.