The Minor Pentatonic

Pentatonic Shape 1

Let’s begin with our classic, pentatonic box 1. This time as we go through it we will really highlight all of the various tones within the shape. This is such an important part of learning this scale, and how we can then develop it later on down the line (and later in this course). Here is the scale shape, and at the very least, we need to know where those root notes are!

Lick 1

Here is a cool Clapton style lick using shape 1 of the pentatonic. Notice how the lick ends on the 5th fret of the B string, which is the 5th degree of the scale. This is a very easy to listen to way to end a lick. It sounds resolved, but not as resolved as the root note.

Pentatonic Shape 2

Let’s now look at pentatonic box 2. This time as we go through it we will really highlight all of the various tones within the shape. This is such an important part of learning this scale, and how we can then develop it later on down the line (and later in this course). Notice how shape 1 and 2 back onto each other. This is important when we come to join these two shapes.

Lick 2

Here is a cool Clapton style lick using shape 2 of the pentatonic. Notice how we are combining two notes at the same time here to get a more overdriven, sludgy sound, notorious of Clapton in Cream. The repetitive nature of it, alongside the rhythm, make for an awesome blues tone!

Pentatonic Shape 3

Let’s now look at pentatonic box 3. We will really highlight all of the various tones within the shape. This is such an important part of learning this scale, and how we can then develop it later on down the line (and later in this course). Notice again how the back of shape 2 is the front of shape 3. Linking the shapes like this in your mind is absolutely crucial!

Lick 3

Here is a cool Clapton style lick using shape 3 of the pentatonic. This is a great lick using Clapton’s classic triplet feel hammer-ons and pull-offs. These are pretty quick, but if your hammer-on and pull-offs are ok, this isn’t as hard as it may at first seem! Notice we also start and end on the root note in this phrase!

Pentatonic Shape 4

Let’s now look at pentatonic box 4. We will really highlight all of the various tones within the shape. This is such an important part of learning this scale, and how we can then develop it later on down the line (and later in this course). Notice again how the back of shape 3 is the front of shape 4. Linking the shapes like this in your mind is absolutely crucial!

Lick 4

Here is a cool Clapton style lick using shape 4 of the pentatonic. Notice how this is the first lick that doesn’t come in on the first beat of the bar, giving it a totally different flavour to the rest of the licks! Loads of cool bends to apply here as well!

Pentatonic Shape 5

Let’s now look at pentatonic box 5. We will really highlight all of the various tones within the shape. This is such an important part of learning this scale, and how we can then develop it later on down the line (and later in this course). Notice again how the back of shape 4 is the front of shape 5. Linking the shapes like this in your mind is absolutely crucial!

Lick 5

Here is a cool Clapton style lick using shape 5 of the pentatonic. This is another great example of Clapton’s love of those cool little triplet licks. Notice how once again it ends on the 5th, which works well as the end of a phrase, as well as leaving it open for more notes!

Blues Note Slide

We can now take all of the pentatonic scale shapes and put them together across the fretboard, using a really simple, but an effective system! We will essentially slide from the 4th degree to the 5th degree, moving our position as we go. This works so well and is so well used by Eric Clapton because we are using the blues note to slide through.

The blues note is the “b5" degree of the scale. The note in between the 4th and 5th degree.