Play a Minor Pentatonic Scale in Key of A on Acoustic Guitar

Hello, and welcome to VisiHow. In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to play a minor pentatonic scale in the key of A on your acoustic guitar. The minor pentatonic scale is a harmonious scale that uses a combination of notes on the fretboard to create a scale, going up and down, that sound very nice when played together. This is useful to know because it helps you to create solos and songs that are pleasant to listen to. For your reference, the top string will be referred to as the 6th string, the second string will be referred to as the 5th string, continuing down to the bottom string, which will be referred to as the 1st string. For a pentatonic scale you will be playing based on sections of the fretboard, starting with notes on the 6th string, moving down to notes on the 5th string, and continuing to the 1st string. Once you have reached the 1st string, you will go back up the strings to the 6th string, with the notes in reverse order. This is referred to as one section. Once you have completed the first section, you will move on to the second section, and so on. There are four sections in a pentatonic scale. Practice each section before moving on to the next.

Steps

1. 1
   The first section will be played on the 1st through 5th frets

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   Use your index finger for the 2nd fret, your middle finger for the 3rd fret, your ring finger for the 4th fret, and your little finger for the 5th fret. For the 2nd string, you will need to stretch your index finger to reach the 1st fret. You may also shift your hand to reach the extra note.

   

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2. 2
   Practice moving down the strings

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   The first note you will play will be 6th string, 3rd fret. The second note you will play on the 6th string will be on the 5th fret. We will refer to this combination of notes as 6th string 3-5, and continue to use this notation throughout the tutorial. The full sequence for moving down the strings will be 6th string 3-5, 5th string 3-5, 4th string 2-5 (2nd fret to 5th fret), 3rd string 2-5, 2nd string 1-3-5 (1st fret to 3rd fret to 5th fret), and 1st string 3-5.

   

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3. 3
   Practice moving down and then up the strings, following the same pattern as the previous step and reversing it as you move back up the strings

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   The pattern for moving up the strings will be 1st string 5-3, 2nd string 5-3-1, 3rd string 5-2, 4th string 5-2, 5th string 5-3, and 6th string 5-3. This is the end of the first section.

   

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4. 4
   The second section will be played on the 5th through 8th frets

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   Use your index finger on the 5th fret, your middle finger on the 6th fret, your ring finger on the 7th fret, and your little finger on the 8th fret.

   

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5. 5
   Practice moving down the strings

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   The sequence for moving down the strings will be 6th string 5-8, 5th string 5-7, 4th string 5-7, 3rd string 5-7, 2nd string 5-8, and 1st string 5-8.

   

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6. 6
   Practice moving down and then up the strings

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   The sequence for moving up the strings will be 1st string 8-5, 2nd string 8-5, 3rd string 7-5, 4th string 7-5, 5th string 7-5, and 6th string 8-5. This is the end of the second section.

   

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7. 7
   The third section will be played on the 7th through 10th frets

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   Use your index finger on the 7th fret, your middle finger on the 8th fret, your ring finger on the 9th fret, and your little finger on the 10th fret.

   

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8. 8
   Practice moving down the strings

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   The sequence for moving down the strings will be 6th string 8-10, 5th string 7-10, 4th string 7-10, 3rd string 7-9, 2nd string 8-10, and 1st string 8-10.

   

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9. 9
   Practice moving down and then up the strings

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   The sequence for moving up the strings will be 1st string 10-8, 2nd string 10-8, 3rd string 9-7, 4th string 10-7, 5th string 10-7, and 6th string 10-8. This is the end of the third section.

   

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10. 10
    The fourth and last section will be played on the 9th through 13th frets

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    For the 3rd through 6th strings, use your index finger on the 9th fret, your middle finger on the 10th fret, your ring finger on the 11th fret, and your little finger on the 12th fret. For the 1st and 2nd strings, you will need to shift your hand position up the fretboard by one fret. For example, use your index finger on the 10th fret and your little finger on the 13th fret.

    

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11. 11
    Practice moving down the strings

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    The sequence for moving down the strings will be 6th string 10-12, 5th string 10-12, 4th string 10-12, 3rd string 9-12, (shift hand position) 2nd string 10-13, and 1st string 10-12.

    

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12. 12
    Practice moving down and then up the strings

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    The sequence for moving up the strings will be 1st string 12-10, 2nd string 13-10, (shift hand position) 3rd string 12-9, 4th string 12-10, 5th string 12-10, and 6th string 12-10. This is the end of the fourth section.

    

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13. 13
    To play the entire minor pentatonic scale in the key of A, play the first through fourth sections one after the other

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14. 14
    This concludes the tutorial on how to play the minor pentatonic scale in the key of A on your acoustic guitar

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    If you have any questions or suggestions about this video, please post them in the comments section below. You will also find links below to other videos in this beginner's guitar series. Thank you for watching VisiHow.

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Video: Play a Minor Pentatonic Scale in Key of A on Acoustic Guitar

If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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