The notes of the A Major Pentatonic Scale are A, B, C#, E, F# 

A Major Pentatonic Scale – All Across the Neck

A Major Scale All

A Major Pentatonic Scale – Pattern 1 

A Major Pentatonic

A Major Pentatonic Scale – Pattern 2

A Mjaor Pentatonic

A Major Pentatonic Scale – Pattern 3

A Major Pentatonic

A Major Pentatonic Scale – Pattern 4

A Major Pentatonic

A Major Pentatonic Scale – Pattern 5 

A Major Pentatonic

 A Major Pentatonic Scale – Low Strings 

A Major Pentatonic Scale

A Major Pentatonic Scale – High Strings 

A Major Pentatonic Scale

Try the following when playing this scale:

Use a metronome – start very slowly.
Play cleanly – Focus on fingering every note cleanly.
Alternate pick – Alternate between up and down. Play quarter notes and then eighth notes.
Down pick all notes – Play quarter notes and then eighth notes.
Triplets – Alternate pick 3 notes for each beat.
16th notes – Alternate pick 4 notes for each beat.
Fingerpick – Use just your fingers to pick. Thumb plays the top 3 strings, Index, Middle and Ring fingers play the bottom strings respectively. Thumb, index, middle and ring are usually indicated by the initials P, I, M, A.
Alternate Fingerpick – Alternate Index & Middle fingers to play each note of the scale.
Use hammer on’s and pull off’s – Can you play each one without picking?
Speed up – As you feel more comfortable, try to increase the metronome speed.
Turn off metronome – Play the exercises but name each note that you play (without looking at the diagrams). Go as slow as you like.
Name the notes – Play exercises and name only the root notes (without looking at the diagrams).
Different positions – Do all the exercises and picking variations for each position.

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Other Scales

I’ve included some other scales for reference. The following diagrams are all in the key of A (unless otherwise noted). Acoustic Scale Altered Dominant Scale Asavari Scale – G Blues

A Minor Pentatonic Scale

The notes of the A Minor Pentatonic Scale are A, C, D, E, and G. A Minor Pentatonic Scale – All Across the Neck A Minor Pentatonic Scale – Pattern 1  A

D Minor Scale

The notes of the D Minor Scale are D, E F, G, A, A#, C. The Chords in the D Minor scale are: Minor Dim Major Minor Minor Major Major