Can someone please tell me why there are 5 different patterns to Penatonic scales?

Question

I mean if you can move them, why do you need more than one? All are movable up and down the fretboard? Right? So why does each need 5 patterns and how do you know which one to use? This has really been bothering me as I try to lean each pattern for Major, Minor, Blues, country & etc. That's a lot to memorize. Thanks for your answer. Nick

Answer 1

You have 5 patterns to reach the notes you are constructing in a melody. You could go with just one pattern but then your solos are going to sound about the same from one song to the next. Playing a different pattern will help you reach other notes an octave up or down to add to your melodic building. Consider looking into the CAGE method for guitar to better understand how using different fingering patterns will help improve your musical development.

Answer 2

Inversions my dear friend. 5 different that start with each one of the 5 notes

have fun!

Answer 3

Hello, I would like to offer my take on this.

Let's take the first form everyone usually learns the pentatonic scale: the "a minor" fifth position Scale

e----------------------------------5-8--------

B----------------------------5-8--------------

G---------------------5-7---------------------

D---------------5-7--------------------------

A---------5-7--------------------------------

E---5-8---------------------------------------

The notes we play are a repetition of the sequence of A, C, D, E, G... Ending on C

If we move this entire fingering up or down one or more fret, it would be a pentatonic scale, but it would be a different pentatonic scale. Ex. One fret up it would be A# or Bb minor, or one fret down it would be Ab or G# minor.

But when we play the next position of the scale in what we can call "a minor" 7th position pentatonic scale:

e----------------------------------8-10------

B----------------------------8-10--------------

G---------------------7-9---------------------

D---------------7-10--------------------------

A---------7-10--------------------------------

E---8-10---------------------------------------

We play the same sequence of notes of A, C, D, E, G as we did above while beginning on a C instead of A. So our scale starts like this: C, D, E, G, A ending on D. All because we are in a new position. Different starting point, same scale. I would not think of this as a "mode" of "a minor pentatonic" but rather a different position.

We learn this so that we can play melodies derived from this scale wherever we are on the guitar neck. This is the vertical way of learning a scale. I encourage you to learn the scale horizontally, where we play the scale on each of the individual strings, as well as diagonally, where we play from the lowest note of the scale on the 6th string to the highest note of the scale on the 1st string.

That will keep you busy for a very long time :)

But don't spend too much time shredding through the scales, try creating or transcribing melodies using the scale in different positions.

Hope this helps, happy practicing!

Answer 4

A pentatonic scale is only a 5 note scale, 5-pent, tonic-note. Take any major scale and omit scale degrees 4 and 7 and you have a pentatonic scale. However in the real guitar world there are only 3 that are ever used, it has to do with how they are used.

Answer 5

You're on the right track! "Penta" means five. "Tonic" means tone or note. Pentatonic means 'five notes,' of which, there are only five individual notes of the pentatonic scale (in every position.) Breaking the pentatonic into modes means that we start a new shape from each of the five notes - resulting in five different patterns all containing the exact same notes. (That's why there's five shapes, and yes, they all have the same notes.)

What many don't understand, is that unlike the classical modes based upon the major scale, you cannot root most of the pentatonic shapes in a traditional way. Scales, arpeggios, & chords normally require a 3rd and 5th to be functional and make musical sense. The 2nd, 3rd, & 4th pentatonic shapes don't meet this criteria. Only the 1st & 5th shapes (aka, the major & minor pentatonic scales) have the necessary 1 3 5 intervals, which makes them the only two I would recommend learning.

That's the basic theory. If, however, you want to run pentatonic licks up & down the fretboard, then you'll want to know all five shapes so that you can connect them all.

Answer 6

Hi Nick!

This answer will apply to all scale types. For the sake of example, though, let's say you were playing a melody within an E minor pentatonic scale. If you only knew one postion, let's say the one that starts on the 12th fret of your low E string, then you'd only be able to play a couple of octaves worth of pitches across all 6 of your strings. What if you wanted to play a melody several octaves down that your current position could not reach? You would need to know what scale shapes are available to you when you use frets below the 12th. In short, each scale position only covers a couple of octaves worth of pitches, so if you want to be able to play in the lower registers and the higher registers of your guitar for each scale, then you would need to know all 5 scale shapes available to you.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

Adam