← Scale Lessons

Lesson 6 of 13

The whole shape

Two thin strings finish the picture — and the scale gets its name.

The B and high E strings bring our last four notes — the thin strings, where solos live.

And with that, the secret's out: piece by piece, we've been building the E minor pentatonic scale this whole time. Today you get to see all of it.

Say hi to the last four notes — B and D, then E and G, up on the thin strings.

123BDEG

Watch the fret numbers: notes on the B string shift up one — fret 3, not 2. The top string, though, plays your low E string's exact frets.

Play along with the pattern
Tempo60 BPM
The ringed E's are home — the key notes our scale is named after. Try ending a phrase on an E, then ending the same phrase anywhere else. One of them sounds finished.