It shows you all positions of the scale. © National Guitar Academy Ltd | All Rights Reserved, Pick up a copy of the Guitar Scales Handbook. Scale diagrams can also be labeled with either letters or scale degrees. Let’s dive in. The two main differences lie on the A string and the B string – can you see them? This provides us with five slightly different arrangements of the same five notes. Want more out of your daily practice routine? The note order in this scale shape is A – C – D – F – G. We’ll give you a hint for the next one: It starts on C. Our fifth and final shape of the D minor pentatonic scale begins at the 8th fret. These riffs are written in 8th notes, so they should be counted and played “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &”. We share ninja tips (for instant fun!) Practicing this shape frequently will lead to better finger strength and flexibility. but also timeless fundamentals that will deepen your understanding. We can easily take care of that through practice, so keep picking up that guitar! Let’s have a look at the tab below to see how we can ascend and descend this scale shape: Now that we know where the notes are and what the positions look like, we can begin to connect the dots with a few different D minor pentatonic licks. We’ve got three killer blues licks for you today that will fit over (almost) every D minor pentatonic chord progression possible. The next two examples focus on connecting scale shape 5 to the root position, which is important. Think about playing guitar and watch cool YouTube videos to get you inspired. Learn how everything fits together quickly, easily and effectively. Learn how to play up and down the neck with ease and break out of those box patterns . The 1st position starts on the first note of the scale. The challenge in this lick is skipping the B string to hit the high E at the first fret, and then stepping down to the B string after. ✓ Learn 12 beginner-friendly versions of every chord. Although scale shapes are important to learn, they aren’t really musical all by themselves. (It's free.). If you have a guitar with only 12 frets, this scale shape can be played starting at the 1st fret. The notes of the D minor pentatonic scale are as follows: The chords in the key of D minor itself are: Playing this scale over any combination of the chords above will provide us with a spread of darker textures to create some very moody music. When we put this into context with our D minor pentatonic scale, our scale positions look like this: It’s easy to get lost on the fretboard when you’re starting out, so we’ve included all 5 positions of the D minor pentatonic scale to help you out: You can also find other combinations of notes by learning your notes of the scale and then finding them by searching through this handy fretboard map. The third shape of the D minor pentatonic scale requires us to make this step, so make sure you’ve stretched! to see the result. We will want to lead with our middle finger for this scale shape to once again leave room to step backward on the D and G strings. Congratulations! The term ‘penta’ means 5 in latin. 4th position: starts on a A note on the 5th fret. Connecting the scale shapes and creating riffs out of different note combinations is what makes these scales begin to sing, so don’t be afraid to experiment to see what sounds good to your ears! Once we hit the B string, our index finger should step up to the 3rd fret, letting us extend our pinky to the 6th fret without any strain. This is also how many famous songs were created, including Sweet Child o’ Mine by Guns N Roses. It can be disorientating for guitarists to understand which scales work with which keys. If you haven’t noticed, we push stretching a lot, and for good reason. It’s important for us as guitarist to stay flexible and healthy. Things we suggest during your downtime from guitar: For the guitarist with pedals – setting a chorus and delay while playing this scale will create a creepy undertone that plays on the nature of the scale itself.