The C Minor Pentatonic scale is C Eb F G Bb. It's shown below across all 24 frets: use the Shape menu to see each of the 5 positions, and press Play to hear it.
Add BPM every bars, up to BPM.
Play bars, then go quiet for . Keep playing through the gap and see if you land back in time.
Stop after minutes.
Your hand keeps moving down and up the whole time. The boxes only show when it touches the strings.
Your log is saved in this browser, on this device.
| Capo | Play these shapes |
|---|
The tuner listens through your microphone, works out which string you're playing and goes green when you're within 3 cents. Nothing is recorded or sent anywhere. The tuner is also in the menu at the top of every page.
Send Joe a clip and get personal feedback on your playing, plus a plan for what to work on next.
See Mentorship PlansThe C Minor Pentatonic scale has 5 notes: C Eb F G Bb. Its formula is 1 b3 4 5 b7, and the gaps between the notes go W+H W W W+H W (W is a whole step of two frets, H is a half step of one fret). C Minor Pentatonic has exactly the same notes as Eb major pentatonic, its relative major pentatonic, but it starts and resolves on C, which is what gives it its own sound.
Compared with C minor, it leaves out the 2nd (D) and the minor 6th (Ab).
| Degree | Interval | Name | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Root | C |
| 2 | b3 | Minor 3rd | E♭ |
| 3 | 4 | 4th | F |
| 4 | 5 | 5th | G |
| 5 | b7 | Minor 7th | B♭ |
The fretboard above shows C Minor Pentatonic across all 24 frets. Its root, C, is on the low E string at the 8th fret, and Position 1 starts there. Use the Shape menu to see the 5 positions one at a time, press Play to hear the one you're looking at, and switch the labels to intervals to see where the root, 3rd and 5th sit in each shape.
Learn one position until you can play it up and down without looking, then learn the next one along and practise moving between the two. Before long the whole neck joins up.
Use it over C minor and Cm7 chords, over a whole song in C minor, and over the C7 chords in a blues. Try bending the 4th up to the 5th and the b7 up to the root: that's where a lot of classic rock phrasing comes from.
The minor pentatonic is the most used scale in rock and blues guitar. With only five notes and no half steps it's very hard to hit a wrong note, which is exactly why it's the first scale most guitarists learn for soloing.
C Major C Minor C Major Pentatonic C Blues C Dorian C Phrygian C Lydian C Mixolydian C Locrian C Harmonic Minor C Melodic Minor
See every scale in every key →
The C Minor Pentatonic scale is C, Eb, F, G, Bb.
The minor pentatonic scale formula is 1 b3 4 5 b7, which is a step pattern of W+H W W W+H W.
There are 5 positions. Use the Shape menu on this page to see each one on its own.
Compared with C minor, it leaves out the 2nd (D) and the minor 6th (Ab).