Chord & FretMinor pentatonic (A)
It grows out of the natural minor with two notes removed: the 2nd and 6th degrees go, and the semitones go with them — in practice, the half steps that tend to clash against chords. What remains is a direct, full-bodied vocabulary, arguably the most played in blues, rock and popular music. It also hides a trick: over a major chord, in blues and rock, its minor 3rd becomes a blue note — which simply means a note 'bent the wrong way' on purpose for expression. Just don't treat it as a universal fix: not every minor chord welcomes it without collisions.
Example: A – C – D – E – GFormula: 1 – b3 – 4 – 5 – b7In the formula, the numbers are degrees — positions counted in the reference major scale; "b" lowers a half step and "#" raises one.
Family: Pentatonics.
Five notes, without the characteristic semitones of the diatonic scales. They are easy to apply because they avoid friction — but they are not a universal solution: the phrase depends on rhythm, articulation and target notes.
The same scale on all four instruments
In the diagrams, each dot carries its scale degree — 1 is the tonic, highlighted.
Each instrument above shows one box of minor pentatonic — a slice of the whole neck. In Chord & Fret, you press play and watch each note light up on the diagram the instant it sounds; switch the dot labels between degrees, note names and fingers; and run it up, down or in a full round trip. Start free. Unlock everything with Pro. 100% offline. Open in Chord & Fret →