F Minor Pentatonic Scale — All 5 Box Positions on Guitar

F minor pentatonic has five notes — F, Ab, Bb, C and Eb — and a bluesy, soulful sound used across rock, blues and soul. Every shape is E minor pentatonic moved up one fret, so if you know E minor, you already know F minor. It shares every note with Ab major pentatonic: treat F as home and it sounds minor, treat Ab as home and it sounds major.

F Minor Pentatonic on the Full Neck

Red dots are the root, F. Double-ringed dots are shared by two boxes — that is where you slide from one box into the next.

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F Minor Pentatonic chart (PDF)

All 5 boxes on one page with note names, plus a 7-day practice plan. Print it and keep it by your guitar.

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The 5 F Minor Pentatonic Box Positions

Each box holds all five notes in a four-to-five-fret span. New to the scale? Learn Box 1 first, then add the boxes on either side of it.

Box 1 — Frets 1–4

The root box. F is at fret 1 on the high e string, fret 3 on the D string and fret 1 on the low E string.

Box 2 — Frets 3–6

F is at fret 6 on the B string and fret 3 on the D string.

Box 3 — Frets 5–9

The widest box — it spans five frets. F is at fret 6 on the B string and fret 8 on the A string.

Box 4 — Frets 8–11

F is at fret 10 on the G string and fret 8 on the A string.

Box 5 — Frets 10–13

Sits around the 12th-fret double dot, so it is easy to find. F is at fret 13 on the high e string, fret 10 on the G string and fret 13 on the low E string.

How to Learn F Minor Pentatonic, Step by Step

1. Box 1 first (frets 1–4). Play it up and down with a metronome at 60–80 BPM until you can do it without looking. Start and end on F.
2. Add Box 2 (frets 3–6). It shares notes with Box 1 — use those shared notes to slide between the two.
3. Learn Boxes 3, 4 and 5 the same way, one at a time, always connecting each new box to one you already know.
4. Use it over music. Put on a backing track in F minor or a blues in F and improvise with short phrases, ending them on F.

What Chords Does F Minor Pentatonic Work Over?

It fits over Fm, Fm7 and Fm9, over a 12-bar blues in F (F7–Bb7–C7), and over most rock progressions in F minor. Because it is also Ab major pentatonic, it works over songs in Ab major too.

Frequently Asked Questions

What fret does F minor pentatonic start on?

Box 1 covers frets 1–4, with the root note F at fret 1 on the low E string.

What notes are in F minor pentatonic?

F, Ab, Bb, C, and Eb — the intervals 1, ♭3, 4, 5, and ♭7.

Is F minor pentatonic the same as Ab major pentatonic?

They share the same five notes and the same box shapes. Treat F as home and it sounds minor and bluesy; treat Ab as home and it sounds bright and major.

What is the difference between F minor pentatonic and the F minor scale?

The F minor scale has seven notes (F G Ab Bb C Db Eb). The pentatonic drops G and Db, the two notes a half step from their neighbors, which is why it is hard to hit a wrong-sounding note with it.

Triads and Arpeggios in F Minor

Every note of the F minor 7 chord (F · A♭ · C · E♭) is in F minor pentatonic, so each box above already holds the Fm7 arpeggio: take out the 4th and land on what is left. The same chord as three-note shapes on neighboring strings is on the guitar triads page. Full pages: F minor triads and the Fm7 arpeggio.

CAGED Shapes in F Minor

Each F minor pentatonic box holds one shape of the F minor chord: Box 1 the Em shape, Box 2 the Dm shape, Box 3 the Cm shape, Box 4 the Am shape and Box 5 the Gm shape. Open F minor with CAGED shapes on, or see how the five shapes connect in the CAGED system guide.

Explore Other Keys

See also: Minor pentatonic scale · Major pentatonic scale · Blues scale

← Read the full guide: How to Use Pentatonic Boxes