G minor pentatonic has five notes — G, Bb, C, D and F — and a bluesy, soulful sound used across rock, blues and soul. It is a darker rock and blues key, with Box 1 at the 3rd fret close to the nut. It shares every note with Bb major pentatonic: treat G as home and it sounds minor, treat Bb as home and it sounds major.
Red dots are the root, G. Double-ringed dots are shared by two boxes — that is where you slide from one box into the next.
All 5 boxes on one page with note names, plus a 7-day practice plan. Print it and keep it by your guitar.
Download the free chart All 26 free charts →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.
The root box. G is at fret 3 on the high e string, fret 5 on the D string and fret 3 on the low E string.
G is at fret 8 on the B string and fret 5 on the D string.
The widest box — it spans five frets. G is at fret 8 on the B string and fret 10 on the A string.
Sits around the 12th-fret double dot, so it is easy to find. G is at fret 12 on the G string and fret 10 on the A string.
Open position — it uses the open strings, and the same shape repeats at fret 12. G is at fret 3 on the high e string, the open G string and fret 3 on the low E string.
It fits over Gm, Gm7 and Gm9, over a 12-bar blues in G (G7–C7–D7), and over most rock progressions in G minor. Because it is also Bb major pentatonic, it works over songs in Bb major too.
Box 1 covers frets 3–6, with the root note G at fret 3 on the low E string. There is also an open-position version (Box 5) using the open strings.
G, Bb, C, D, and F — the intervals 1, ♭3, 4, 5, and ♭7.
They share the same five notes and the same box shapes. Treat G as home and it sounds minor and bluesy; treat Bb as home and it sounds bright and major.
Use the open strings plus the first few frets: low E 1–3, A 1–3, D 0–3, G 0–3, B 1–3, high e 1–3. This is Box 5 of the scale.
The G minor scale has seven notes (G A Bb C D Eb F). The pentatonic drops A and Eb, the two notes a half step from their neighbors, which is why it is hard to hit a wrong-sounding note with it.
Every note of the G minor 7 chord (G · B♭ · D · F) is in G minor pentatonic, so each box above already holds the Gm7 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: G minor triads and the Gm7 arpeggio.
Each G minor pentatonic box holds one shape of the G 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 G minor with CAGED shapes on, or see how the five shapes connect in the CAGED system guide.
See also: Minor pentatonic scale · Major pentatonic scale · Blues scale