This pentatonic minor pattern is one of my favorites for a couple of different reasons…

First, it’s easy to remember because you play the same thing over and over again – the whole pattern is only 2 strings 🙂

But also, it’s cool for a “get up and get out” from where you’re currently playing. You can get across the fretboard almost immediately to a new area.

Enjoy and experiment with it!


    38 replies to "The 3+2 Pentatonic Minor"

    • Good lesson Griffin I was stuck in the April scale on the 5th fret and you help me moving along all your classes by helping me be the best guitar player on the planet I'm 64 years old and I'm a lefty and I didn't get it until I seen your lessons online God bless you and what you do for helping me with my blues music I'm the blues Man but I didn't quite have it till now thank you

      Great job Griff great job Griffin

    • Katherine

      Progresses too fast for me. Not enough repetition to make it sink in before you go on to the next step. I’m lost, lost, lost. I’ve been playing guitar for 40 years, but can’t find a guitar instructor who teaches in such a way that I can absorb the new information and move on from what I already know.

      • Steve Zartman

        Katherine, It might help you to see some fretboard visualations. Do a google images search for Pentatonic Extensions, which is what Griff is teaching here. You will find diagrams for the 2 + 3 extensions and also the 3 + 2 extensions that is shown here. Another term you can google would be Diagonal Pentatonid Extensions. For this lesson and the other 2 + 3 extension you will be playing the 5 notes of the pentatonic scale and as you change string pairs ( Strings 6 & 5; 4 & 3; 2 & 1 going lowest to highest) you will be playing the notes of the pentatonic scale in different octaves.

      • Jim Brewster

        Use Google and pull up a complete fingerboard chart of the minor pentatonic scale for whatever key you want. Use those notes to work on lead ideas.

      • Elizabeth Marasco

        that diagram doesnt work for this example.

    • Barry

      I’m old…need Tab.

      • Steve Zartman

        Barry! It might help you to see some fretboard visualations. Do a google images search for Pentatonic Extensions, which is what Griff is teaching here. You will find diagrams for the 2 + 3 extensions and also the 3 + 2 extensions that is shown here. Another term you can google would be Diagonal Pentatonid Extensions. For this lesson and the other 2 + 3 extension you will be playing the 5 notes of the pentatonic scale and as you change string pairs ( Strings 6 & 5; 4 & 3; 2 & 1 going lowest to highest) you will be playing the notes of the pentatonic scale in different octaves.

    • Louis

      I learned this from just messing around several years ago. I like the way it allows one to go horizontally up and down the keyboard. Thanks for the vid as it now has a name I can call it.

      • Louis

        Griff, you are without a doubt the best teacher on the internet. Your explanations are clear and precise. Thanks for all you do!

    • Al

      You da MAN! Appreciate all you do.

    • Tom

      Good stuff Griff! Thanks!

    • Bob K

      Very cool stuff, like this pattern a lot. I find that I practice in A or G much of the time with scales because of the “real estate” issues in D…this helps to keep it interesting to get to Box 1 in D rather than starting in it.

    • Peter

      Wish you had provided a tab for this. Tabs make learning and retaining much more effective – even for something so apparently simple as this.

      • Jonathan Teich

        agree

      • Dave And Kate Lackey

        That’s a great comment.

    • Michael Blankenstein

      Thanks, Griff. What this exercise is actually doing is horizontally sliding between boxes on a repeating pair of strings.

    • bill

      Almost skipped over this as I thought it was the 2+3 I picked up from one of your other emails. This one is not only great for relocating up the neck but its also an awesome little finger workout! I’m sure I’m not the only one who has less control of their little finger than I do of the rest and this will help. No tab needed use your ears another thing we all probably need to spend more time on Great one Griff!

      • Vince DePietro

        I almost did the same thing!

      • Steve

        You may not need tab, you may have an ear for this, some of us just don’t and need the extra help!

      • Steve Zartman

        If a person has problems using the little finger just slide into the notes where there are 3 notes on one string. You can also play sequences using these patterns which really sounds good.

    • juan

      thank you griff,for taking the time to teach us simple little tricks that you have up your sleeve,great lesson

    • Jack Flash

      Great Video….I like to jam to the B Minor of lesson 20 solo example#2 in Blues Guitar 2.0. I jam to it every night as it sounds like BB King and goes great with the Lessons from the Masters licks and every other lick that covers walls in my apartment making jamming so easy as I walk around and just look at the wall. I just got my course on Strumming and Mastery so I am taking that slow cause I got to learn this counting thing as I just mimick the sounds I hear…

    • Ben White

      Nice I’d we had the tab to help cement finger progressions..thanks Griff!

      • Steve Zartman

        Do Google Images search and you can find these shapes shown.

    • John

      Thx Griff. Great lesson!

    • Dan

      Great lesson as usual griff. I will work on this, what a great tool for the bag!

    • Mike

      This pattern reminds me of Hendrix’s Castles Made Of Sand. Thanks Griff.

    • Chris

      A light just went off with this one! One of your best lessons.

    • JimJ

      Why no download?
      No tab?

    • Charles

      Hey Gruiff I was wondering do you have any information on what and how to use paddles, I’ve got a few but not sure how to hook them in the correct place. As you know you know I’ve gotten a few items from you.

    • Brian M

      Good stuff! I have been using this for awhile but I learned it a little differently. For minor Pentatonic, I do the 2+3 version, where I use my ring finger on the root note. In the key of A, I play the G and A on the sixth string, then move to the 5th string to play C – D – E, repeating up the strings and neck. Every note is two frets away from the previous note. For the major pentatonic I use the 3+2 (A – B – C#) and then (E – F#) repeating each set of strings. But…I’m still going to try Griff’s approach to the minor pentatonic to see how it compares.

      • Steve Zartman

        Find an image of the Am fretboard and plot these diffferent shapes on them,, I use a highlighter to show the desired notes played. Great visualizations.

      • Steve Zartman

        Brian M. the 3 + 2 Diagonal Scale you mention using as a Pentatonic Maj. extension can be converted to a Minor scale by starting on the 5th string and playing a 2 + 3 form on the string pairs 5 & 4 and string pair 3 (g-string) and 2 or B-string and continue onto the 1st string to complete the scale. Same notes as the 2 + 3 pattern you descibe.

    • Eric M

      This was the first blues pattern I figured out when was first becoming aware of the Blues in my 20s. I knew nothing about keys nor boxes. I just played along with records and found it worked.

    • Bobby Dungan

      Kool lesson,
      Always learning good stuff Griff

      • John

        I went straight over to my guitar and started to use 3plus2 and played around with it. What a great lesson. Fits in with the modes lessons too. I like having a highway up to the 12th fret for something in G. And, breaking that into bits and pieces or starting from the 4th string G root. Such a great little tool.

    • Rob Shannon

      The flow of this piece is very helpful. I truly appreciate your method of teaching. It allows us to think for ourselves and create something that is specifically our own.

      Rob

    • Jack

      Nice easy pattern to play with thank you these little extras go so well with your course
      And your concept of teaching
      Jack

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.