Minor Pentatonic Scale - A Minor

The minor pentatonic uses scale tones 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 of the natural minor scale. It may also be considered a gapped blues scale.

Major Pentatonic Scale - A Major

The 5 scale boxs are the same for major and minor but they are played at different positions on the neck. The major scale starts one box back in comparisson to the minor. The position #1 (5th fret) in the A minor is moved back to start at the 2nd fret in A Major. All pentatonic box positions will move back one box respectivly.

'Box positions'

'Box position', refers to the position on the neck, which in these diagrams is denoted by #1, #2, #3, #4, #5. Playing the scale low to high and back again completes the sequence of a particular scales box.

'Neck runs'

By moving from one box to another using finger slides, hammer ons' and pull offs' can generate great musical phrases or lead lines.

'Trading off'

'Trading off', is a term that can be used to descride playing notes out of both scales in the same phrase, this has been widely used.

Artists like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Duane Allman often used only five notes to create some of the greatest solos of all time, employing the magic of the minor-pentatonic scale and its close relative, the major-pentatonic scale.

Pentatonic means “five notes,” and that’s part of the reason these scales are a great place to start. Many other scales use seven notes, so you have fewer notes to keep track of with pentatonics. But the main reason people use pentatonic scales is to create dynamic solos.