The ONLY pentatonic scale lesson you will EVER need

Learn the rectangle and the stack and never look back

The major and minor pentatonic scales share the same geometric shape—a two-note-per-string
pattern that repeats every ve strings. Inside that 5-string pattern are two sub-patterns named
for their shapes: the rectangle and the stack. In all of the diagrams, the rectangle is shown in red,
and the stack is shown in blue.

Minor pentatonic Major pentatonic

When we place the repeating pattern across the fretboard, we must take into account the warp
between the G and B strings. In e ect, the part of the pattern that lies on the B string’s side of
that imaginary barrier is shifted one fret toward the bridge. In all patterns, the rectangle and stack
alternate vertically.

Each of the ve pentatonic forms contains both the rectangle and the stack, although sometimes
they appear distorted because of the G-B warp.

There’s no need to explicitly memorize these shapes, but it can help to know where to nd the
rectangle and the stack inside them.

Copyright © 2023 Keith Martin 1 of 5 Understand more, Memorize less

fi
fi
ff
fi
 The ONLY pentatonic scale lesson you will EVER need
Learn the rectangle and the stack and never look back

To play the rectangle and stack shapes e ectively (i.e., musically), it’s very useful to know where
the various intervals appear in each shape. The most important note is the root, shown in red,
and the shape you’re using will depend on which of your ngers is on the root, and whether the
context is major or minor.

In a blues or blues-rock context, if you are playing the minor pentatonic over a major chord, it’s
especially helpful to know where the at third is, so that you can give it a little bend toward the
natural third. The roots and fths are almost always good targets for your phrases.

It’s also essential to know where you can bend. Both right-hand notes in the rectangle can
always be bent a full-step, as can the top right corner of the stack. The two lower-right notes in
the stack can be bent a step-and-a-half, often to great dramatic e ect.

It is worth studying these diagrams to remember which notes bend to which intervals, so that
you can e ectively target tones with varying degrees of consonance in your phrases. The root
and the fth will always sound consonant and provide good ends to phrases. The natural second
is also a great target for adding a little variety. Experiment and use your ears to gure out what
you like. A big part of learning to improvise e ectively is gaining an aural understanding of how
each interval sounds in di erent contexts.

And don’t forget to add some grease. Bends, hammer-ons, pull-o s, slides, and varying pick
attacks are the not-so-secret ingredient for making music out of scale patterns.

Copyright © 2023 Keith Martin 2 of 5 Understand more, Memorize less

fi
ff
ff
fi
fl
ff
ff
fi
ff
ff
fi
 The ONLY pentatonic scale lesson you will EVER need
Learn the rectangle and the stack and never look back

To move around the fretboard using the rectangle and stack, we can take advantage of their
horizontal connections. The most commonly-used pathway takes advantage of the diagonal
connection of the stack to itself, one octave higher.

Here, that pattern is shown overlaid on the Form 1 pentatonic box at the fth fret. This is
equivalently the A minor and C major pentatonic scale. Many famous rock and blues guitar solos
are played entirely within this pattern. Eric Clapton and many others have made careers of it.

The rectangle and stack alternate horizontally, with a slight downward diagonal, and this is a
great way to move up and down the fretboard quickly. When you arrive at your destination, it’s
easy to visualize the vertical alternation of rectangles and stacks to complete the pentatonic
form.

Copyright © 2023 Keith Martin 3 of 5 Understand more, Memorize less

fi
 The ONLY pentatonic scale lesson you will EVER need
Learn the rectangle and the stack and never look back

The most powerful way to navigate horizontally is to know your intervals inside the rectangle and
stack, as well as how the shapes connect. Note that the two gures below feature the exact
same sequence of rectangles and stacks. Only the interval names are di erent.

Horizontal pathway for minor pentatonic

Horizontal pathway for major pentatonic

And, don’t forget that you can quickly switch from the pentatonic scale to six of the seven major
scale modes by lling in the missing notes inside the rectangle. This is covered in depth in the
Smokin’ Fast Modes video. In brief, if you’re playing “shape 1”, the minor pentatonic becomes
the Dorian mode, and the major pentatonic becomes Lydian. If you’re playing “shape 2”, minor
becomes Aeolian (natural minor) and major becomes Ionian (major scale). Finally, if you’re playing
“shape 3”, minor becomes Phrygian and major becomes Mixolydian.

Copyright © 2023 Keith Martin 4 of 5 Understand more, Memorize less

fi
fi
ff
 The ONLY pentatonic scale lesson you will EVER need
Learn the rectangle and the stack and never look back

Lastly, if you’ve mastered using the rectangle and the stack, it’s easy to extend the pentatonic
scale to the blues scale and minor hexatonic scale.

The minor and major blues scale have the same shapes, but the added note (the “blue” note)
functions as a at fth in the minor blues scale, and as a at third in the major blues scale. They
are best used as passing tones in your phrases.

The minor and major blues scales

The minor hexatonic scale adds the natural second to the minor pentatonic scale. The hexatonic
scale sounds pleasingly ambiguous to our ears, since we never play the 6th interval, which would
pin it down as the Dorian or Aeolian mode.

The minor hexatonic scale

Copyright © 2023 Keith Martin 5 of 5 Understand more, Memorize less

fl
fi
fl