Moving the Pentatonic Scale to Different Keys

The Pentatonic Box Shapes

The pentatonic scale is made up of 5 notes. For example, in the key of G the notes are G, A, B, D, and E. These
pentatonic box shapes organize these notes in a way that lays out conveniently over the guitar neck. Being able to
play all five positions of the pentatonic scale in any key is “step 1” for learning how to play lead guitar melodies and
improvise solos.

These box shapes are patterns. Which fret you start the pattern on determines what key you are playing in. To play
in the key of G, you start position 1 on fret 3 (a G note), position 2 on fret 5 (an A note), position 3 on fret 7 (a B note),
position 4 on fret 10 (a D note), and position 5 on fret 12 (an E note). We start each position on the corresponding
note in the scale. For example, the 3rd note of the G pentatonic scale is a B note, and we start position 3 on the 7th
fret (a B note) when we are playing the pentatonic scale in G. We always begin the box shapes on the low E string, so
having the note names of the frets on low E memorized will be very helpful.
We can play the pentatonic scale in any key. As you play these pentatonic positions in other keys, you will notice the
the “box shapes”, or patterns, are exactly the same. We are just starting them on different frets to shift the key up or
down. The 5 notes of the C pentatonic scale are C, D, E, G, and A. To play the pentatonic positions (box shapes) in the
key of C, we’ll start position 1 on a C note (fret 8), position 2 on a D note (fret 10, position 3 on an E note (fret 12),
position 4 on a G note (fret 3), and position 5 on an A note (fret 5).
 Next, let’s play the pentatonic scale in the key of D. You’ll notice once again, the the patters (or box shapes) of these
positions are exactly the same, we’re just starting on a different fret of the low E string. In the key of D, the pentatonic
scale is made up of D, E, F#, A, and B. We’ll start position 1 on the first note of the scale, a D (10th fret), position 2 on
an E note (12th fret), position 3 on an F# note (2nd fret), position 4 on an A note (5th fret), and position 5 on a B note
(7th fret). We no longer will put the box shape diagrams by the tabs as we will need to have those memorized!
Lets do the same drill in the key of A. A pentatonic is made up of A, B, C#, E, and F#. Can you figure out where we are
going to start these positions?
The notes of the E pentatonic scale are E, F#, G#, B, and C#. You’ve got this!
 Congratulations! You’ve got your fingers on the pentatonic scale in the 5 most used keys for guitarists. As we get
more and more comfortable with the guitar neck, we will want to develop mental shortcuts to make the processing
time as fast as possible. The easiest one is with the first position. If you know the note names of the low E string, you
can quickly identify any note, start the 1st position on that note, and play the pentatonic scale in that key. Here’s
another: have you noticed that the 2nd note of the 5th position box shape is always the same as the starting note for
position 1? Position 5 butts up against position 1. Once you’ve located position 1, you can quickly go down 3 frets and
start position 5. There are all sorts of mental shortcuts like this, and as you internalize the pentatonic scale box shapes
and get fast at moving them to different keys, the light bulb will get brighter and brighter.