The Minor Pentatonic Scale – Part 2

Now that you’ve got the first position of the scale under your fingers it’s time to to get to work on the second position.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to read the part 1 of this series on the Minor Pentatonic Scale.

The Second Pattern Of The Minor Pentatonic Scale

When you move up a pattern in the scale, you lose the lowest note on the 6th string but you gain a higher note on the 1st string. Here is what it looks like:

The Minor Pentatonic Scale Pattern 2

When you practice the scale it’s a good idea to start with your second finger. Keep your hand in the 5th position (your first finger should be at the 5th fret of the guitar) play each note with the appropriate finger. Check out the video to see what I mean.

Of course in a real playing situation you may use various fingerings depending on the licks you are executing.  It is common to play the top 3 strings of the D form Minor Pentatonic Scale with the first finger on the 6th fret, the 2nd finger on the 7th fret and the 3rd finger on the 8th fret.  This makes it easier to bend the notes on the first 2 strings.

Once you get familiar with the D form practice switching from the E form of the scale to the D form and back.  Try to use logical fingerings.  You can do a lot with just these 2 scale forms.  Stevie Ray Vaughan and a lot of other great blues guitarists rely heavily on them.

The Blues Rules course contains some guitar tabs to help you get a handle on switching back and forth between these 2 forms, and it’s free when you subscribe to 100 Blues Licks. Just fill in your name and email address at the top of this page.

Here are just a couple of licks to get you started.  There are more to come!

Next: The C form of the Minor Pentatonic Scale.  Also, some video lessons of cool blues licks using the 2 forms covered so far.

And if you really want to take your playing up a notch check out Pentatonic Power, a 150 day road map to mastering the pentatonic scales. Highly reccomended!

Simular Blues Licks Info:

1. The Minor Pentatonic Scale – Part 1 ...
2. Get The Blues Right: Taj Mahal And The Diminished 7 Chord Ever since Jake and Elwood did it in The Blues...
3. Learn The Guitar Notes In 3 Simple Steps This topic certainly applies to the blues guitar, but no...
4. Blues Guitar Lesson – Blues Guitar Chords – Part Two So by now you have those 3 note dominant 7...
5. Better Blues Guitar Solos – 7 Ways To Play With Feeling How do you play the blues with feeling? How do...