F# minor pentatonic scale

5 notes · the ♭3 and ♭7 · the 5th mode of the major pentatonic scale

The same five notes as the major pentatonic a minor third above. Its ♭3 and ♭7 sit over major and minor chords alike, which is why it works over a blues where neither a major nor a minor scale does.

Heard in: Blues and rock lead playing, more or less in its entirety.

Key
CC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭B
majornatural minordorianmixolydianlydianphrygianlocrianharmonic minormelodic minorlydian dominantlydian augmentedalteredmajor pentatonicminor pentatonicblueswhole tonediminishedhalf-whole diminished

The notes of F# minor pentatonic

The whole scale, with each note’s degree underneath it.

F#
1
A
♭3
B
4
C#
5
E
♭7
35791215♭7, E string fret 0♭71, E string fret 21♭3, E string fret 5♭34, E string fret 745, E string fret 95♭7, E string fret 12♭71, E string fret 141♭3, A string fret 0♭34, A string fret 245, A string fret 45♭7, A string fret 7♭71, A string fret 91♭3, A string fret 12♭34, A string fret 144♭7, D string fret 2♭71, D string fret 41♭3, D string fret 7♭34, D string fret 945, D string fret 115♭7, D string fret 14♭7♭3, G string fret 2♭34, G string fret 445, G string fret 65♭7, G string fret 9♭71, G string fret 111♭3, G string fret 14♭34, B string fret 045, B string fret 25♭7, B string fret 5♭71, B string fret 71♭3, B string fret 10♭34, B string fret 1245, B string fret 145♭7, e string fret 0♭71, e string fret 21♭3, e string fret 5♭34, e string fret 745, e string fret 95♭7, e string fret 12♭71, e string fret 141
15 frets in standard tuning, high E at the top. Each dot is labelled with its degree rather than its note, because that is the part that moves with you when you play the shape somewhere else. The green dot is the root of whatever is being shown — the scale, or the chord chosen out of it.

Chords from F# minor pentatonic

Stacking thirds through this scale does not give chords: the gaps in it are not thirds. It is a scale to play over chords rather than one to build them from, so what matters here is which chords it fits, below.

What to play F# minor pentatonic over

The chords on F# whose every note this scale contains, biggest first. The largest of them is the one that pins the scale down: over F#m7 there is nothing in F# minor pentatonic that can sound wrong.

F#m7F#7sus4F#mF#sus4F#5

The other modes of the same notes

Same notes, different home. Which one you are in is decided by the chord underneath, not by the notes.

F# major pentatonic

Every scale on every root is on the scale index, and every chord on the chord index. Where the shapes and the theory come from is on the about page.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode