Open E Minor Pentatonic Scale

The E Minor Pentatonic Scale - the first pentatonic scale you should learn on guitar.

With all the guitar skills you have under your belt, you're ready to explore your first scale: the Open E Minor Pentatonic Scale! You're ready for it, BUT it doesn't mean it won't be tricky. Learning scales is a vital guitar technique to help elevate your guitar playing! In this lesson, we'll explore how you can approach this and some valuable tips to help you out. 

Practicing scales for guitar beginners is a great skill to add to your repertoire. It helps with your pick accuracy, riffing and gives you material to improvise your riff too! First things first, let's check out some visuals to guide you! :)

 

How To Play Open Emin Pentatonic Scale

The Scale Box is like a chord box. The difference is you play the notes one at a time. You'll start with the lowest-sounding note, then work up to the highest-sounding note. Then, you'll head back to the lowest notes, playing them one by one.

Take a moment and visualize the diagram below: it'll help you see the visual relationships between the notes.

 

 

Open E Minor Pentatonic Scale TAB

Check out the TAB below - it shows you the order of the notes. As you can see, the lowest line is the thickest string and the fret numbers. Usually, the lowest line does not designate the fingers to use. But for the but the E minor pentatonic scale, they are the same!

Don't worry about the traditional notation at the top of the TAB. It comes free with the tab - so I included it ;). If you need extra help, check out the video for a slowed-down playthrough of this scale.
 

 

How To Practice Scales On Guitar

Using only your second and third fingers to fret, you will start on the thickest string. Then, you'll work your way over to the thinnest string. Finally, head back over to the thickest string.

As with most things, start slow. Learning this scale will likely be tricky for you - this differs from anything else we've done in our beginner guitar course! There's a similarity between scales and riffs, so this will help you play and improvise riffs later on!

So far, we've focused on strumming and strumming patterns. So, we haven't done a whole lot with picking techniques. For now, only use down picks. We'll get more into up picks later! 

With scales, we're only playing one note at a time, so don't worry about any of your chord shapes right now! And don't get down if you're picking the wrong string. It's a common struggle for most beginners. Keep going! You can do this :).  

 

3 Tips to Practice Playing Scales 

TIP 1 - Memorize The Shape

Memorize the scale shape as you learn them by taking a mental image of the diagram. They'll come in handy later in your playing as you get more advanced. 

It's OK to look at the diagram the first few times, but you don't want to rely on it! You want to play the scales without being glued to a TAB sheet or scale box. Committing the shape of the scale to memory is very important. Getting it clear in your mind from the start will help you remember it forever! 

TIP 2 - Play The Scale Slowly!

Do it slow enough to get it perfect. Take your time, and get the shape exactly right! Even if it takes you a few times, don't get discouraged. Learning the guitar is hard, and you don't need to rush things. 

Play the scale as slow as you need to. Make sure you're not skipping strings or picking the wrong ones.

 

TIP 3 - Practice With A Metronome

Focus on playing it slowly for the first few times to get it right. Once you feel confident picking every string, set your metronome at a target of 80 bpm. You'll want to pick 1 note for each click of the metronome.

At first, this might feel too quick for you - that's normal! Slow it down, and find a speed that works for you. Playing with the metronome induces panic, building the habit of playing in time. You'll develop your internal sense of time, and this will help you jam with other musicians!

 

PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT

It's super important to get this right! Think of this scale as a learning tool. Take your time and get it right. Remember - practice does not make perfect - PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT. Practice things right, even if that means going at a slower pace.

If you make a mistake and you keep practicing it, you'll have to spend some time correcting it later! So, practice this scale and all other skills correctly and lock it in your brain! Doing this will save you from having to break many bad habits later. :)

 

Next lesson, we learn how to mute unwanted strings.