B Minor Pentatonic: Notes and Shapes
B, D, E, F# and A are the notes of the B minor pentatonic scale. The open B and A strings and both E strings belong to the scale, so a few notes can ring freely beside the fretted ones.
The root appears on the 7th fret of the low E string and the 2nd fret of the A string. D major pentatonic is the relative major, with the same notes. When the box starts to feel like a cage, shifting the pentatonic shapes is a simple way to hear new colours from the same notes.
Play the B minor pentatonic scale
Use the step menu in the player to switch between the single-string run and the box shapes.
Notes of the B minor pentatonic scale
| Note | Degree | Interval | Semitones from root |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | 1 | Root | 0 |
| D | b3 | Minor 3rd | 3 |
| E | 4 | Perfect 4th | 5 |
| F# | 5 | Perfect 5th | 7 |
| A | b7 | Minor 7th | 10 |
Structure
B minor pentatonic scale notes:
How the minor pentatonic scale is built:
The minor pentatonic scale is built from the degrees 1 b3 4 5 b7, which gives the step pattern W+H-W-W-W+H-W (W = whole step, H = half step).
Counting in semitones from the root: 0, 3, 5, 7, 10. That makes it a 5-note scale.
B Minor Pentatonic Scale Guitar Patterns
Static diagrams of every position shown in the player above.
On one string (B)
Box pattern — position 1
Box pattern — position 2
Box pattern — position 3
Box pattern — position 4
Box pattern — position 5
3 notes per string — position 1
The minor pentatonic scale in other keys
Created by
Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher
