The C Major Pentatonic Scale on Guitar
The C major pentatonic scale has five notes: C, D, E, G and A. It is the major scale with the 4th and 7th removed, which is why it sounds open and sweet and never clashes with a C chord.
Place the root on the 8th fret of the low E string or the 3rd fret of the A string. A minor pentatonic contains the same notes, so one fingering covers both keys. To get more from the box, read about shifting the pentatonic shapes.
Play the C major pentatonic scale
Use the step menu in the player to switch between the single-string run and the box shapes.
Notes of the C major pentatonic scale
| Note | Degree | Interval | Semitones from root |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | 1 | Root | 0 |
| D | 2 | Major 2nd | 2 |
| E | 3 | Major 3rd | 4 |
| G | 5 | Perfect 5th | 7 |
| A | 6 | Major 6th | 9 |
Structure
C major pentatonic scale notes:
How the major pentatonic scale is built:
The major pentatonic scale is built from the degrees 1 2 3 5 6, which gives the step pattern W-W-W+H-W-W+H (W = whole step, H = half step).
Counting in semitones from the root: 0, 2, 4, 7, 9. That makes it a 5-note scale.
C Major Pentatonic Scale Guitar Patterns
Static diagrams of every position shown in the player above.
On one string (B)
Box pattern — position 1
Box pattern — position 2
Box pattern — position 3
Box pattern — position 4
Box pattern — position 5
3 notes per string — position 1
The major pentatonic scale in other keys
Created by
Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher
