Am Pentatonic at D

So far we've covered the A minor pentatonic in the root note position and what I will call the C position or VIII position, yellow and blue circles. Now I would like to expand that a bit further to what I will call the 10th position at the D note 10th fret. The next position in the green circle below.

The image below shows the A minor pentatonic scale now starting on the 10th fret. The fingering is 1-3, 1-3, 1-3,1-4,1-4,1-3. The notes that make up this fingering are as follows D-E G-A C-D E-G A-C D-E. This is really starting to get intense, but all you have to do is remember, each position of the Am pentatonic scale has the same notes. The only thing that is different is the fingering positions. By now you should have the fingering number system memorized. The system is illustrated once again below.

The image below shows the same A minor pentatonic scale pattern, but with the notes and their positioning.  Remember to play this scale starting at the 10th fret Low E string D note 1 finger.  The next note played in this pattern is the E note 3 finger Low E string on the 12th fret. Use the fingering number system as illustrated in the upper picture to finish off the scale from the Low E string to the high E string. 1-3 1-3 1-3 1-4 1-4 1-3. Remember play from left to right, fat to skinny, pick down then up. Then work your way back up in reverse.

Even though we are starting on the D note, you can notice now that we don't have to start on that note. We can start on the A note, the C note or over any chord we are playing. The notes of the Am chord are A C and E. You can play lead over the Am chord here as illustrated above. You can also play over the C chord here. The notes of the C chord are C E and G. You can also use this position to play over the Dm chord or the D5 chord and many others.

This is why it is important to learn every position of the Am pentatonic scale. You can play over every chord of this scale in every position on the guitar. This will become clearer as we move on.