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Beginners' video: The minor pentatonic scale

An essential scale for all guitarists

The MusicRadar Team, Tue 15 Jan 2008, 4:15 pm UTC

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This beginners' video tutorial teaches you about minor chords, and moves onto the minor pentatonic scale.

Just in case you have been living in a cave on Mars, with your fingers in your ears and your eyes shut, the minor pentatonic is the most important scale in guitar music. If you don't know it, you must learn it right now.

The scale, along with the rest of the tab for this tutorial, is in the 'see all pictures' section of the picture box. You can see it being played in the video.

The minor pentatonic scale has a dark and moody sound, and you can use it pretty much every time you see a set of chords that start with a minor chord of the same letter name (E minor pentatonic with an E minor chord).

A minor chord will usually have a small 'm' after the letter name, for example, E minor is written Em. Like the scale, minor chords have a dark and moody sound. Play a minor chord and compare it to a major chord (any chord with just a letter name, eg, 'G' or 'A'). You will notice that major chords sound bright and happy while minor chords have a darker quality. If you don't hear it straight away, try strumming two or more of each chord together.

Click here for full-sized tab.

Video

Audio - Full track

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