What is the difference between major and minor pentatonic?

The short answer

Both are five-note scales. Major pentatonic is the major scale with its 4th and 7th left out: 1 2 3 5 6. Minor pentatonic is the natural minor scale with its 2nd and 6th left out: 1 b3 4 5 b7. And every minor pentatonic has exactly the same notes as a major pentatonic: A minor pentatonic is A C D E G, and C major pentatonic is C D E G A. Same notes, same shapes on the neck. What differs is home — the note the music rests on.

Same root, different notes: A minor vs A major pentatonic

From the same root they are different scales. A minor pentatonic is A C D E G; A major pentatonic is A B C# E F#. They share only A and E. The difference that matters is the 3rd: minor pentatonic has the minor 3rd (C), major pentatonic the major 3rd (C#) — the same note that makes a chord minor or major.

See A minor and A major pentatonic on one neck

Same notes, different home: A minor and C major

Every minor pentatonic shares its five notes with the major pentatonic three frets up. A minor and C major pentatonic are both A C D E G: over an A minor chord A is home and you hear minor; over a C chord the same notes sound major.

On the neck they are the same five boxes. In the numbering used here — each scale’s boxes counted from its own root — A minor box 1 (frets 5–8) is C major box 5. Other teachers number the major boxes differently, so go by the frets.

The three-fret shortcut

You probably know the minor shapes better, so use them for major. To play A major pentatonic, play the minor pentatonic three frets lower: F# minor pentatonic, F# A B C# E — the same five notes as A major. In practice, slide your A minor box 1 from frets 5–8 down to frets 2–5, and that shape is now A major pentatonic. Land on A and it sounds major.

When to use which

• Minor pentatonic over minor chords and minor keys — A minor pentatonic over Am – F – C – G, for example — and over a blues, where its minor 3rd rubbing against the major chords is the blues sound.
• Major pentatonic over major chords and major keys: pop, country, gospel, and the brighter side of a blues. Over an A chord, A major pentatonic sounds settled where the minor one sounds bluesy.
• Both, over the same blues. Moving between A minor and A major pentatonic over A7 — bending or sliding C up to C# — is one of the most recognizable sounds in blues and rock. How to aim for those notes as the chords change.
• A quick test: if the chord has a major 3rd, the major pentatonic agrees with it and the minor pentatonic rubs against it. Sometimes that rub is exactly what you want.

Practice it

1. Loop A minor pentatonic box 1 (frets 5–8), ending each run on A.
2. Loop A major pentatonic box 1 (frets 4–7), ending on A. Same root, brighter sound.
3. Over a single A chord, switch between the two every four bars and listen for the moment C becomes C#.