B Minor Pentatonic Guitar Scale
Guitar scale in Baritone (B Standard) tuning — fretboard diagram
B Minor Pentatonic in Baritone (B Standard) — Notes and Intervals
The B Minor Pentatonic scale is the most influential scale in the history of rock and guitar music. On Guitar, its notes are B, D, E, F#, A. It offers a gritty, powerful, and bluesy sound that is highly versatile, serving as the primary tool for improvising solos in rock, blues, and metal and providing a safe but expressive framework for beginners and pros alike. Commonly used in Blues, Rock, Metal, R&B, Funk. Notable players include Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, B.B. King, Slash, Angus Young. Use over minor chords, dominant 7th chords (in blues), and power chords. The backbone of rock and blues guitar for 70+ years.
Notes: B, D, E, F#, A
Intervals: 1P, 3m, 4P, 5P, 7m
Degrees: 1 b2 3 4 b5
Formula: WH-W-W-WH-W
Number of notes: 5
Tuning: Baritone (B Standard) (B-E-A-D-F#-B)
Also known as: vietnamese 2
About Baritone (B Standard) Tuning
The baritone guitar is tuned a perfect fourth lower than standard guitar (B-E-A-D-F#-B), producing a distinctly beefy tone with serious low-end depth that sits perfectly between guitar and bass. Its rich, dark voice has made it a secret weapon in film scoring, ambient music, and moody songwriting where you need that unmistakable low-end warmth without losing clarity.
Unlike simply tuning a standard guitar down (which causes floppy strings and muddy tone), the baritone guitar uses a longer scale length (typically 27"-30") designed specifically for lower tunings. This gives each note clarity and definition even in the lowest register. Session musicians, film composers, and bedroom producers alike reach for the baritone when they need dark, atmospheric textures, doom-laden riffs, or simply a different sonic palette that standard guitar can't deliver.
Notable artists: Pat Metheny, Nels Cline, Brian Setzer, Baritone session players in Nashville
Best for: Moody songwriting, film scoring, ambient textures, doom metal, and any production that needs low-end depth with clarity
Musical Character
The most played scale in guitar history. Its 5 notes (1, b3, 4, 5, b7) outline a minor chord with a dominant 7th feel, which is why it works over both minor AND dominant chords in blues.
Chord Progressions Using This Scale
- bVI – bVII – I (Mario Cadence)World / Game Music — Triumph & Victory
- I – I – I – I – IV – IV – I – I – V – IV – I – V (12 Bar Blues)Blues — Grit & Soul
- i – iv – i – V (Minor Blues)Blues — Melancholy
- I – bVI – bIII – bVII (Epic Borrowed Chords)Contemporary / Film — Epic & Heroic
- i – VI – III – VII (Cinematic Minor)Contemporary / Film — Dramatic & Dark