A Minor Pentatonic Scale on the Guitar – 5 CAGED Positions, Tabs and Theory

The A minor Pentatonic scale contains the following notes:

A – C – D – E – G

The A minor pentatonic scale is very often the first scale that guitarists learn, when entering the world of soloing. It is not necessarily the most fundamental scale from a musical theory perspective (that would most likely be the C Major scale), but it is one of the easiest scales to play and one that gets used very often.

The A minor pentatonic scale works tremendously well over the A minor chord and songs in the key of A minor. Because the key of A minor is a common key for guitarists, the A minor pentatonic scale gets used a lot. Playing it in the 5th position is also a good (roughly) mid point of the fretboard, so playing the scale in this position is seen as a kind of default minor pentatonic scale.

For an in depth lesson on the theory behind the minor pentatonic scale, read the post on pentatonic scales.

The best way to practice any guitar scale is to memorize the individual positions along the fretboard. Let’s look at the open position and the 5 moveable positions for A minor pentatonic:

A Minor Pentatonic Scale in the Open Position

A Minor Pentatonic Scale CAGED Positions

Here are the 5 CAGED positions for the A minor pentatonic scale on the guitar (notes and tabs).

A Minor Pentatonic Scale in the 2nd Position (lowest fret is 2)

A Minor Pentatonic Scale in the 5th Position (lowest fret is 5)

A Minor Pentatonic Scale in the 7th Position (lowest fret is 7)

A Minor Scale in the 9th Position (lowest fret is 9)

A Minor Pentatonic Scale in the 12th Position (lowest fret is 12)

Further Reading