E major pentatonic scale on guitar
E major pentatonic has 5 notes: E F♯ G♯ B C♯. Degrees: 1 2 3 5 6. Formula: W W W+H W W+H.
What notes are in the E major pentatonic scale?
E, F♯, G♯, B and C♯. It has 5 notes; its formula in whole and half steps is W W W+H W W+H.
What does E major pentatonic sound like, and when do you use it?
Open and bright, no half steps: country, pop and folk. Impossible to play out of tune. Use it over major chords (maj, 6, add9).
To hear it: Amazing Grace (traditional).
Chord progressions to improvise with E major pentatonic
In Jam mode (the Jam button above) a band of grand piano, upright bass and drums (recorded instruments) plays these progressions as swing, bossa, groove or ballad, and the fretboard lights up the notes of each chord as it plays. It's a backing track made for this scale in E:
- Country (I–IV–V): E | A | E | B. I–IV–I–V: over all three chords, the major pentatonic never fails.
- I–vi (I6–vi7): E6 | E6 | C♯m7 | C♯m7. Major and its relative minor: the same five notes sound bright or melancholic.
E major pentatonic positions on guitar
In standard tuning (E A D G B E), with 2 notes per string, E major pentatonic is played in 4 positions along the neck:
- Position 1: frets 1 to 5 (starts on the root)
- Position 2: frets 4 to 7
- Position 3: frets 6 to 9
- Position 4: frets 9 to 12
Same notes as
D♭ minor pentatonic · F♯ Egyptian (suspended) · B major blues pentatonic · B Yo
Major pentatonic in other keys
On other instruments
E major pentatonic on piano · E major pentatonic on bass · All scales