Printable worksheet
Pentatonic Scale Worksheet (Major & Minor, Printable, with Answers)
Free printable pentatonic scale worksheet: write or identify major and minor pentatonic scales, find omitted notes and relative pairs. Answers included.
Pentatonic Scale Worksheet (Major & Minor, Printable, with Answers)
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Pentatonic Scale Worksheet (Major & Minor, Printable, with Answers) · Sheet #
About the Pentatonic Scale Worksheet
The Pentatonic Scale Worksheet is a free, printable practice sheet for writing and identifying major and minor pentatonic scales, with answers included. It runs in your web browser with no sign-up, and nothing you enter is uploaded.
You can choose major, minor or both, then write scales on a treble or bass staff, or name the scale shown and the notes it leaves out. Use it for any key, from G and F major pentatonic to E minor pentatonic, in treble or bass clef. Each sheet has a number, so you can return to it or share it.
How to use the Pentatonic Scale Worksheet
- Open the Pentatonic scale menu and choose Major pentatonic, Minor pentatonic or Major and minor.
- Open the Exercise menu and choose Write the scale on the staff, Identify (omitted notes, relative pairs) or Mixed.
- Set the Clef menu to Treble clef or Bass clef.
- Set the Keys menu to Sharp and flat keys, Sharp keys only or Flat keys only.
- Choose a Difficulty (easy, medium or hard) and a Questions count (10 or 20).
- In write mode, write each scale on the empty staff, ascending or descending, using accidentals. No key signature is used. Spell each note from its parent scale and finish on the octave.
- In identify mode, the scale is shown ascending with the tonic as the first note. Decide whether it is major or minor, or give the omitted notes or the relative scale.
- Press Show answers to check. Each answer shows the scale and the degrees it uses.
- Press Print to get page 1 with the questions and page 2 with the answer key, or press New worksheet for a fresh set.
Your settings and the Sheet # are kept in the page URL (after ?seed=), so you can reopen the same sheet or send the link to someone else. Printing works on A4 and US Letter paper, and the sheet has Name, Date and Score lines.
What is a pentatonic scale?#
A pentatonic scale is a five-note scale, and “penta” means five. Each octave contains five different pitches. The worksheet asks you to build these scales on the staff and to recognise them when they are written out.
How do you build a major pentatonic scale?#
Take the major scale and leave out the 4th and 7th degrees. That leaves degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6. In C major, this gives C D E G A. In F major, the 4th (B♭) and 7th (E) are left out, so the F major pentatonic is F G A C D.
How do you build a minor pentatonic scale?#
Take the natural minor scale and leave out the 2nd and 6th degrees. That leaves degrees 1, ♭3, 4, 5 and ♭7. In A, this gives A C D E G. The same method gives B minor pentatonic as B D E F♯ A, and G minor pentatonic as G B♭ C D F.
Which notes are left out of a pentatonic scale?#
For a major pentatonic scale, the omitted notes are the 4th and 7th degrees of the parent major scale. In C major, these are F and B, which form the tritone in that scale. For a minor pentatonic scale, the omitted notes are the 2nd and 6th degrees. Identify mode asks you to name these notes.
How are major and minor pentatonic scales related?#
Relative keys share the same five notes. C major pentatonic and A minor pentatonic both contain C D E G A. The tonic, the note the scale starts on, tells you which one you are playing. Identify mode uses this relationship in its relative pairs questions.
Do pentatonic scales skip letter names?#
Yes. Because the scale has five notes, some letters are missing. C major pentatonic has no F or B. Notes are still spelled from the parent scale, so D♭ major pentatonic is D♭ E♭ F A♭ B♭. The third of A♭ major pentatonic is C, never B♯.
Which keys does each difficulty use?#
Easy uses parent keys with up to three sharps or flats. Medium goes up to five, and hard goes up to seven, including F♯, C♯, G♭ and C♭ major and their matching minor keys.
Does the worksheet help with guitar pentatonic patterns?#
Guitar pentatonic patterns are the five fretboard shapes that guitarists use to link one pentatonic scale across the whole neck. This worksheet works on the staff and does not show fretboard shapes. It trains the note content behind those shapes. For example, the five notes of G minor pentatonic (G B♭ C D F) are the same in every position, so knowing them makes it easier to find them on any part of the neck.