The A minor pentatonic scale in the 5th fret position is arguably the most common entry point to improvising on the guitar. It's friendly under the fingers, satisfying to the ear, and you can pretty quickly start to approximate the sounds of your favourite blues and rock solos.

However, this position can become like a prison. You watch in horror as your life turns into a series of licks within this 4-fret area and you have no idea how to escape the dystopia you've created for yourself.

That's because improvising melodic lines horizontally is a real challenge on the guitar. So much so that it took me years before I'd even played every note of that scale on the entire fretboard. There aren't that many — around 10 notes on each string, approximately 60 notes in total.

As I sit here, it seems like such an obvious thing to do, but back then it just never occurred to me to even try to play all 60 notes. To be honest, it never occurred to me to find out how many there actually were. 60 is very achievable.

By the end of this lesson you will have played and improvised with all 60 notes of the A minor pentatonic scale across the entire fretboard. Here's your chance to waste a lot less time than I did.

The Names of the Notes

Although there are 60 notes, not all of them are different. Pentatonic means five sounds. So there are only 5 different notes: A, C, D, E, G.

The 5th String (A String)

We'll begin with the A string since A is the first note of the scale — as good a place as any. Here's how the notes lay out across the string:

0 3 5 7 10 12 15 17 19 A C D E G A C D E
Fig. 1a — A minor pentatonic on the A string (5th string)

How to Learn Them So You Actually Remember

  1. Start with just 3 notes. Pick the first three notes on the string. That's enough to begin building muscle memory without overwhelming yourself.
  2. Jumble the order. This is crucial. Most people learn scales by going start to finish and back again. You'll remember individual notes far better if you mix up the sequence.
  3. Improvise with them. Play notes more than once. Try different rhythms and articulations — bends, slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs. Make music, not just patterns.
  4. Add one note at a time. Once you're comfortable with 3, add a 4th. Not 5. Just 1. It takes patience, but adding a bit at a time means you actually retain what you learn. Think The Hare and the Tortoise.
  5. Explore big jumps. As you accumulate notes, don't just play neighbours. Try jumping from fret 15 to fret 3, or 15 to open. It's harder — which is exactly why it's worth practising.
  6. Say the note names as you play. This is a bonus layer of difficulty. If it's too much at first, master the physical side and add the naming later. If you want help identifying notes, watch this.
  7. Repeat for every string. Work through each of the remaining strings using this same process.

The Intervals of the Pentatonic Scale

An interval just means the distance between two notes. For now, let's focus on two:

Major 2nd (2 frets apart)
Minor 3rd (3 frets apart)
C → D
A → C
D → E
E → G
G → A

Why does this matter? Because if you know what note you're on, you can work out where the next one is.

For example: if you're on the 3rd fret of the A string, that's a C. C to D is a major 2nd — 2 frets apart. So the next note is at the 5th fret.

Remember This
Every note in the pentatonic scale is 2 frets apart, except A→C and E→G, which are 3 frets apart.

The Remaining Strings

The 4th String (D String)

0 2 5 7 10 12 14 17 19 D E G A C D E G A
Fig. 1b — A minor pentatonic on the D string (4th string)

The 3rd String (G String)

0 2 5 7 9 12 14 17 19 G A C D E G A C D
Fig. 1c — A minor pentatonic on the G string (3rd string)

The 2nd String (B String)

Notice this one doesn't use the open string:

1 3 5 8 10 13 15 17 20 C D E G A C D E G
Fig. 1d — A minor pentatonic on the B string (2nd string)

The 1st & 6th Strings (Both E)

Both of these strings are E, so the notes fall in the same positions — they'll just sound two octaves apart.

0 3 5 8 10 12 15 17 20 E G A C D E G A C
Fig. 1e — A minor pentatonic on the E strings (1st & 6th)

Final Thoughts

  1. Play along with the video first. That way you'll have played and improvised with all 60 notes in one sitting. The next time will be easier.
  2. You don't have to learn everything at once. Practise one string per day. Review it the next day, then move to a new one. Save the note naming until you're comfortable with the positions.
  3. Use the video as a practice tool. Slow it down if you need to. Pause and restart as much as you like.
  4. Improvise over an Am chord. Record yourself playing an A minor groove, then practise improvising with these notes over the top.

Once you're comfortable, move on to Part 2: The Pentatonic Scale on String Pairs.