E Minor Pentatonic Scale: Notes and How to Play It
If you've ever wanted to play a bluesy lick or a rock solo, the E minor pentatonic scale is where nearly every guitarist starts. It has only five notes, it fits the guitar's open strings almost perfectly, and it sounds good straight away. Learn it today and you'll be able to jam over a huge number of songs in the key of E minor by tonight.
The Notes of E Minor Pentatonic
The word pentatonic simply means "five notes." In E minor pentatonic those five notes are E, G, A, B, D. After D the pattern loops back to E, an octave higher, and starts again.
Here's a nice surprise: look at your open strings. In standard tuning they're E, A, D, G, B and E. Every one of them belongs to this scale. That's a big part of why E minor pentatonic feels so natural on guitar. You can strum or pick open strings and you're already in the scale.
There's also no spelling headache here. The scale uses no sharps and no flats at all, just five plain letter names. Nothing to decode, nothing to worry about.
How the Step Pattern Builds the Scale
Scales are built from steps. A half step (H) is the distance of one fret. A whole step (W) is two frets. The minor pentatonic uses this pattern:
W+H - W - W - W+H - W
A W+H is a whole step plus a half step, which is three frets. Let's walk it up the low E string starting from the open string:
- Start on E (open string).
- W+H (3 frets) takes you to G.
- W (2 frets) takes you to A.
- W (2 frets) takes you to B.
- W+H (3 frets) takes you to D.
- W (2 frets) brings you back to E at the 12th fret.
Musicians also describe the scale with numbers, called a formula: 1, b3, 4, 5, b7. Each number tells you how far a note sits from the root (the home note, E). So E is the 1 (root), G is the b3 (minor 3rd), A is the 4 (perfect 4th), B is the 5 (perfect 5th) and D is the b7 (minor 7th).
Why It Sounds the Way It Does
This scale is the classic sound of rock and blues soloing. Part of the reason is what it leaves out. Start with the E natural minor scale, which has seven notes: E, F#, G, A, B, C, D. Remove the 2nd (F#) and the 6th (C), and you're left with E minor pentatonic.
Those two notes are the ones most likely to clash with chords if you land on them carelessly. Take them away and almost every note you play sounds "right." That's why beginners can improvise with it so quickly.
The note that gives the scale its minor, slightly moody colour is G, the minor 3rd. Play an open E, then a G, and listen. That dark, bluesy feeling is the G. The D, the minor 7th, adds a gritty, unresolved edge that's everywhere in blues and rock.
One more useful fact: the G major pentatonic scale uses exactly the same five notes. The difference is which note feels like home. Centre your playing around E and it sounds minor and tough; centre it around G and it sounds brighter and happier.
Chords to Jam Over
Because E minor pentatonic sits inside E natural minor, it works over the chords from that key. Some of the most useful are:
- Em (E, G, B) – your home chord
- G (G, B, D)
- Am (A, C, E)
- C (C, E, G)
- D (D, F#, A)
Notice that Em and G are built entirely from pentatonic notes, so everything you play will sit beautifully over them.
A simple progression to try is Em - C - D - Em, one bar each, looping round. Record yourself strumming it, or ask a friend to play it, then improvise over the top with the scale. When the Em comes back around, try landing on an E note. You'll hear how satisfying it is to "come home."
Finding the Root on the Neck
Knowing where E lives helps you find the scale anywhere. On a standard-tuned guitar the root E is at:
- Low E (6th) string: frets 0, 12 and 24
- A (5th) string: frets 7 and 19
The first box shape
The most famous way to play this scale is a "box" at the 12th fret. Play two notes on each string, from the low E string to the high E string:
- Low E string: frets 12 and 15
- A string: frets 12 and 14
- D string: frets 12 and 14
- G string: frets 12 and 14
- B string: frets 12 and 15
- High E string: frets 12 and 15
Now play the exact same shape down at the nut, using open strings in place of the 12th fret and frets 3 and 2 in place of 15 and 14. Same notes, one octave lower.
Your Practice Plan
Spend five minutes playing the 12th-fret box slowly up and down, saying the note names out loud. Then put on your Em - C - D loop and play just three or four notes, leaving space between phrases like you're talking. Bend the G on the 3rd string a little, slide into notes, and always try to finish on an E. Do that for a week and this scale will stop being a pattern and start being your voice.
For the bigger picture, read The Minor Pentatonic Scale.