Pentatonic & Blues
A Minor Pentatonic Scale on Piano
A minor pentatonic is the five-note minor scale formed by removing the 2nd and 6th degrees of A natural minor. The most important lead-guitar scale in rock history, and just as useful at the piano for blues, rock, and pop improvisation.
Notes of the A Minor Pentatonic Scale
| Degree | Note | Interval from root |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | Root |
| 2 | C | Minor 3rd |
| 3 | D | Perfect 4th |
| 4 | E | Perfect 5th |
| 5 | G | Minor 7th |
| 6 | A | Octave |
W½-W-W-W½-WW½ · W · W · W½ · WNatural minor with the 2nd and 6th removed — the gaps of a minor third are what give pentatonic its open sound.
A Minor Pentatonic on the Staff
One octave ascending in bass clef with the key signature of A minor (no sharps, no flats).
Fingering
Pentatonic scales have only five unique notes; fingerings are flexible. This pattern places the thumb under the C on the way up.
- 1A
- 2C
- 3D
- 4E
- 1G
- 2A
- 5A
- 4C
- 3D
- 2E
- 1G
- 3A
Numbers indicate fingers: 1 = thumb, 2 = index, 3 = middle, 4 = ring, 5 = little. Both rows are shown in ascending order (low note to high note). Note the left hand starts on the pinky (5) at the lowest note and crosses the middle finger over the thumb to continue upward — that is why the left-hand numbers count down before cycling again.
Where You Hear This Scale
Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" solo, countless blues-rock lead lines, and almost every rock guitar pentatonic lick — all built from this shape. On piano it is the ideal first improvisation scale over a minor chord: A, C, D, E, G are all consonant against Am and Am7, so there are no wrong notes. Adding the flat-5 blue note turns it into the A blues scale.
Train Your Ear to Recognize This Scale
Put what you learned into practice with Fortepian's free scale identification exercise. Hear a scale and identify it — 9 progressive levels, from major and minor to modes, pentatonic, blues, and exotic scales. No signup needed.
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