The pentatonic box shape for guitar soloing is one of the most classic guitar scale patterns that you can add to your tool chest of soloing ideas. It is also one of the easiest to apply, simply because the pattern is literally a square box... 





In this lesson, I created a check list to give you a helpful reference for how to place the pentatonic box shape into different Major and Minor positions across the guitar neck.

The goal of this lesson plan is to help you form a better understanding of how to create basic guitar solos using this common "box" pattern on the neck.

Click on the icon below to download your official pentatonic box check-list:




WHAT IS THE BOX SHAPE?
The “Box Shape,” is a classic scale shape that’s used by every guitar player on planet Earth to quickly and easily create guitar solos.

Even though the box shape gets used all the time, many guitar players still aren’t all that crystal clear on how to apply it on the guitar neck.

In this video, I'm not only going to teach you the box shape, (in case you’ve never used it before), but I’m also going to run through a checklist for you to learn how to easily apply it, whether you want to use it for Major keys or if you’d want to use it in Minor keys.

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THE BOX SHAPE IS REALLY JUST A BOX!
Let’s get started by learning about what the Box Shape looks like:
The Box Shape is really just exactly what its name implies. It’s literally (geometrically), a square box that’s used between the guitar’s 5th string and the 3rd string.


The pentatonic box pattern operates over a "three fret region," anywhere on the fingerboard and overall, it’s actually nothing much more than an arrangement of the tones found out of Pentatonic scale.




THE MAJOR BOX:
Here’s how the box pattern is performed from the tonality of Major. Notice how our root note for the application of "Major" tonality musical ideas is located off of the 3rd string.



THE MINOR BOX:
If you wanted the Minor box version, you would simply change the location of the scales Root Note and play it like this. Notice the new location of the Minor tonality root off of the guitar's 4th string.






BOX PATTERN USE - 6th STRING MAJOR:
Alright so, let’s say that you’re jamming with your friends one afternoon and over a riff in “A” major, and they ask you to play a quick guitar solo.

For that type of situation, all you’ll need to do is locate an "A" major chord someplace on the 6th or 5th string, (because the song is in "A" Major).

Then you'll use the box shape's "Major" version which is located nearest to that "A" chord and start ripping out a couple of great licks and you’ll nail a solo down in seconds.

To get started, you'll need to properly apply the box, but that's easy. Just think of the nearest “A” major chord, (in this case we’ll use the “A” at the 6th string on the 5th fret).



From the "A" chord, (located at 6th string's 5th fret), you’ll go back 3 frets and play your solo within that, “A” major style box shape...







BOX PATTERN USE - 5th STRING MAJOR:
Now, lets say you wanted to solo in another area of the neck, and your key was “E” major. You could use the “E” chord off of the 5th guitar strings, 7th fret as your box shape locator chord.




To find your box shape scale location, simply jump up 2 frets higher. From that region you could rip out some great solos using the, “E” major box.




So, that’s how easy the box ideas work for “Major” keys! And, if that isn’t cool enough, the box shape is just as easy for Minor keys.





BOX PATTERN USE - 6th STRING MINOR:
For jamming in Minor keys, the system is very similar. If you were jamming in the key of "A" Minor, and you needed to rip out a solo over a key of “A Minor” idea, just use the nearest “A” Minor chord that would be situated right in and around where you'd like to play your solo.

Let's try this using an "A" Minor chord built off of the 6th string 5th fret:




Once you've determined your 6th-string root Minor chord location, all you’d need to do is stay right within that very same position to play your guitar solo.









BOX PATTERN USE - 5th STRING MINOR:
If you wanted to solo in a different location of the neck and your key was “E” Minor, you could use an “E” Minor chord situated upon 5th string at the 7th fret;




Once you've determined your 5th-string root Minor chord location, all you’d need to do after that is play the pentatonic box pattern up five frets higher from the root of your chord shape.

From that area, you can play your guitar solos.


CONCLUSION:
As you can tell, soloing using this classic pentatonic box shape is not only incredibly easy to do, but it also can be applied very quickly.

Mentally it’s a fantastic pattern based system to use, whether you need some ideas for quick filler licks, or if you need a pattern for a short lead guitar part. The classic box shape works incredibly fast to both perceive and then orientate on the guitar neck.

When you want it in Major or Minor keys there’s only a couple of chords that are part of the memory work required to situate the box pattern on the guitar fingerboard where you’ll need it. After that, just start playing your solos right away. 


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