Guide to E Minor Pentatonic Guitar Scale

Do you understand keys?

To play lead guitar of any kind, it’s essential that you can work out the key of a song.

To work out the key of any song, simply look at the song’s first and last chords.

A musical key is a group of scales and chords which work together.

People often use the terms ‘key’ and ‘scale’ in the same way. The two words are used almost interchangeably.

The key of E minor is often described as the scale of E minor. And vice versa.

Same goes for major keys too.

The E major key comes from the scale of E major. And vice versa.

How do I work out a musical key?

There’s a really simple way to work out the key to a song.

Here’s what you do:

Check the first and last chord of the song.

Let’s take a look at a quick example. Here’s a classic chord progression:

E major   |G# minor  |B major  |E major |

What key is this chord progression in?

As you can tell from this progression.

The first and last chords are E major.

Therefore, the key of this progression is in the key of E major.

Easy right?

Let’s try another chord progression.

E minor  |B minor |A minor |E minor

So the first and last chords in this progression are E minor. Therefore, the key of this chord progression is in the key of E minor.

You can do this method for ANY key, you just have to check the first and last chord.

To learn more about musical keys check out these two articles

• How To Play Lead Guitar
• Learn Guitar Scales In 8 Easy Steps

Okay, I understand what a musical key is, but how do I use these scales to solo?!

There are two main tips which you can use to help you become God of Solo.

1. Play the root notes of the scale.
2. Learn guitar licks.

Tip#1: Targeting Root Notes

Root notes are a fantastic way of sounding awesome. You may find when you play the E minor pentatonic scale, some notes sound better than others.

When you solo, it’s vital that you target the root note. This is your hero note! You will NEVER sound bad when you play the root note. It ALWAYS sounds fantastic.

What’s a root note?

The root note is the first note in a scale or chord.

So for example, the notes in a E minor pentatonic scale are:

1. E

2. G

3. A

4. B

5. D

Therefore, the root note is…yep you guessed it, E!

Let’s try it with a chord, here are the notes for a G minor chord:

1. G

2. Bb

3. D

Therefore the root note in a G minor chord, is G.

Finding The Root Note In a Scale

Usually the root note is the VERY first note that you play.

For example, if you play the 1st pattern of the E minor pentatonic scale, this starts on the root note. (This is either the open E string or the 12th fret of the low E string, depending on which octave you play it in)

However, for the rest of the patterns the root note ISN’T the first note in the scale.

With this in mind, it’s important to be aware of where the E root notes are.

Here’s a diagram of all of the notes in a E minor pentatonic scale, the root notes are highlighted in blue:

From this, you can tell that there are E root notes on the:

• The low and high E string.
• The 12th fret of the low and high E string.
• The 7th and 19th fret of the A string.
• The 2nd and 14th fret of the D string.
• The 9th fret of the G string.
• The 5th and 17th fret of the B string.

When you solo, make sure you target these notes! It’s the quickest way to sounding awesome.

Tip#2: Learn Guitar Licks

Guitar licks are a quick and easy way of sounding amazing.

What’s a guitar lick?

A lick is a small musical phrase which you can use when improvising.

Think of it like this, if you’ve ever gone abroad you may have learnt a phrase in another language which will help you communicate with others.

A lick, is the musical equivalent of learning a language phrase. Licks are designed to help you get the sound of the scale in your head.

Generating your own improvisational ideas can be difficult, learning licks helps with this. They allow you to improvise quicker!

In this video, Mike will show you 5 cool licks and flicks which use the E minor pentatonic scale.

Once you’ve learned some cool licks and flicks you can try them over a backing track.

Here’s an awesome backing track which you can use these ideas over:

Do you like guitar solos? Here are 50 of the greatest guitar solos by Guitar World: 50 Greatest Guitar Solos

Want more licks?

You’re want more? You got it!

Lick #1: The Country One

This lick is perfect for country styles and uses the open E minor pentatonic scale!

Here’s the tab:

Watch this video to learn how to play this lick:

Lick #2: The Rock Lick

This one is fast, so make sure you practice this one slowly.

Here’s the tab:

Here’s how it should sound:

Lick #3: The Blues Lick

This one has a great bluesy feel, play this lick with feeling and soul!

Here’s how it should sound: