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The Minor Pentatonic Scale

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This course is a deep-dive into one of the most commonly-used scales – the minor pentatonic. As you’ll learn from the course, the minor pentatonic is derived from the natural minor scale and works well in all styles of music.

As bass players, the minor pentatonic is an important scale for us to learn. With that in mind, this course covers ways in which to learn the scale all over the fretboard (without relying on shapes or patterns) and then puts it to use in a series of ‘real world’ bass grooves. The first few exercises are written in A minor (a logical key to start learning the scale with), after which there are lines written in other keys. By the end of this course you should be very familiar with the sound of the minor pentatonic scale, and you’ll find that it makes a valuable addition to your scale vocabulary.

As you work through this material, you might find the following courses useful (all included in the monthly subscription cost):

Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above to get the PDF worksheet and audio files for this piece (available to subscribers only).

This course is 59 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:

1. Introduction to the Minor Pentatonic Scale

This short video gives an overview of the course and what to expect from it. As you’ll learn here, the minor pentatonic scale is derived from the natural minor scale.

2. Playing the Minor Pentatonic Scale

This lesson will get you playing the A minor pentatonic scale all over the neck. Here, the focus will be on the notes themselves, not on any restrictive fretboard patterns.

3. Exercise #1

This exercise is a simple rock groove that will help you to become familiar with the minor pentatonic scale. As you’ll hear, this scale works perfectly for rock basslines.

4. Exercise #2

This exercise is a funk groove built that illustrates how well the notes from the scale fall under the fingers. This line uses the A minor pentatonic scale (A-C-D-E-G-A).

5. Exercise #3

This exercise is a slap and pop groove that uses the A minor pentatonic sale. The opening double stop helps to establish the minor tonality.

6. Exercise #4

This is a fast metal bassline that has long sequences of notes played on a single string. The use of pull-offs make this line easier to perform than it sounds.

7. Exercise #5

This funk groove uses the A minor pentatonic scale once again and should be performed using the palm muting technique.

8. Exercise #6

This is a rock bass part that uses the E minor pentatonic scale (E-G-A-B-D-E). Bars 1 and 3 establish a groove, with fills occurring in the second and fourth bars.

9. Exercise #7

This exercise uses the G minor pentatonic scale (G-Bb-C-D-F-G). Lines like this are great examples of how the scale can be used as the basis for classic rock riffs.

10. Exercise #8

This exercise uses the D minor pentatonic scale (D-F-G-A-C-D) and was inspired by Jaco Pastorius, who often used pentatonic scales in his basslines and solos.

11. Exercise #9

This exercise is a funk line that uses the C minor pentatonic scale (C-Eb-F-G-Bb-C). The fills are based on the same pattern but played in different parts of the fingerboard.

12. Exercise #10

This exercise is a busy funk groove that uses the G minor pentatonic scale (G-Bb-C-D-F-G). This line is another illustration of how nicely the scale falls under the fingers.