Duration: 9:12 · 1080p Stream
Master video playlist mapped. Ready for batch offline download to media/videos/csf-3-1.mp4.
The heart of the course — everything later is built on it. You'll start with the minor pentatonic (the scale guitarists actually speak), see how its root, ♭3, 4, 5, and ♭7 are spaced in two- and three-fret gaps, and learn the landmark that locates the root anywhere: the upper note of the isolated two-fret span. Most of all you'll hear it — playing the scale on one string over both minor and major drones, discovering why it sounds great over each, and why you give that ♭3 a little bend into the "gray area" over a major chord. A quick drone hack lets you do all this before you've learned every note by name.
What follows is this lesson’s section of the Course Guide — you can read it here or in the full guide →
We start with the minor pentatonic scale because it is the scale guitar players use most often. It shows up across blues, rock, funk, country, pop, and a good deal of jazz. If the major scale is the language of music theory, the minor pentatonic is the way guitarists talk.
If you already know some pentatonic shapes, set them aside for the duration of this module. Nothing is being thrown away, but we are going to rebuild what you already know out of simpler, more flexible building blocks. That restructuring will be what makes the major scale, the modes, harmonic minor, and everything else connect later on.
The minor pentatonic scale is built from five intervals: the root, ♭3, 4, 5, and ♭7:
This scale is closely related to the major scale. If you take a major scale and start on the 2nd, 3rd, or 6th scale degree, a complete minor pentatonic scale is sitting there inside it. Each one is a different five-note subset of the major scale, which is a large part of why this scale connects so naturally to everything later in the course.
On the guitar, every note in the scale is either two frets or three frets away from the next one. The pattern of those spans is worth memorizing, and the two-fret spans are the key to it: there is one isolated two-fret span sitting between two three-fret spans, and then a pair of two-fret spans side by side.
Memorize this: The minor pentatonic scale spans, in order, are 3-2-2-3-2 frets. The root of the scale is the higher note of the isolated two-fret span.
Seeing the notes is only half of it. The other half is hearing how each one behaves against the harmony underneath it.
Over a minor triad drone with the same root, every note in the scale sounds good. The root, ♭3, and 5 are chord tones. The 4 sounds slightly less settled but still consonant. The ♭7 isn't in the chord, but adding a seventh to a minor triad almost always means a ♭7, so it sounds good. This is a large part of why the scale is so ubiquitous.
Over a major triad drone with the same root, the scale still works, with one exception. The root, ♭7, and 5 all sound fine. The 4 introduces a little tension, because it sits a half step above the major 3rd in the chord. The ♭3 is the problem note — it clashes with the major 3rd in the chord.
The fix is to bend it. You can bend the ♭3 all the way up a half step to match the major 3rd, but in blues-based music it is more common to bend it less than a half step, into the grey area between the ♭3 and the major 3rd. This is a huge part of the classic blues sound. Throughout the rest of the module, you'll learn to spot the ♭3 inside every shape, so that bending it becomes automatic whenever you are playing over a major chord.
The exercises below are best played over a drone, and you may not yet know every note on the fretboard by name. Here is a temporary shortcut for building a two-note minor chord from any starting note:
To turn it into a major drone, raise the upper note one more fret, which moves it from a ♭3 to a major 3rd.
No pedal needed — this player makes the two-note minor drone the method above builds. For Exercise 3-2, change the chord to A for the major version.
A2 · C3 ♭3
Exercise 3-1: Build a minor drone using the method above. Starting from the root, move up the scale along a single string using only your index finger, naming each interval out loud as you play it. Continue as high as the string allows, then descend as low as you can go, then return to the root. At all times, keep track of which interval is under your finger and listen to how it sits against the drone.
Exercise 3-2: Repeat Exercise 3-1 over a major drone. Everything is the same, but give the ♭3 a bend every time you pass through it.
Practice these on different strings and with different roots. You are not looking for speed. You are training your ear and your fingers to agree about where you are in the scale.
In the video, I demonstrated the E minor pentatonic scale on the B string and the C minor pentatonic scale on the G string. Here are both, extended across the full length of the string:
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