When I first saw what the Minor Pentatonic scale pattern looked like when it was stretched across the whole entire neck, I was a little bit intimidated. Memorizing the scale across all 21 frets of my guitar seemed like a very daunting task. But as I went on to learn the scale I found out that it is not all that difficult.

All you really need to do is memorize 12 frets. I know your probably thinking, “12 Frets of the scale that is still a lot to Memorize.� This is where box patterns are very useful. They break the scale up into 5 easy to learn sections. After you learn those sections, all you need to know is how to connect them. Here are the 5 box patterns.

1st Box Pattern

The 1st Box Pattern connects to the
2nd Box Pattern

The 2nd Box Pattern connects to the
3rd Box Pattern

The 3rd Box Pattern connects to the
4th Box Pattern

The 4th Box Pattern connects to the
5th Box Pattern

Then the 5th Box Pattern connects back to the 1st Box Pattern.
Here’s what all five put together on 13 frets looks like.

It is a never-ending cycle, when you play boxes 1 through 5, you just start over with one again. So all you really need to know is, what the 5 boxes are and how they connect. Now with these five box patterns you can go as far up the neck as you like, from the 1st fret all the way up to the 24th fret. And you are well on your way to creating great guitar solos.

If you would like to check out the the box patterns of the minor pentatonic in any key, A, A#, B, C … go to the page Minor Pentatonic Box Patterns.

If you have any questions ask them in a comment below and I will answer them as soon as possible.

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