D Major Pentatonic Scale

Five ringing notes (D E F# A B) with an open D and open B string built in — a country and folk favourite. Tap any note on the fretboard to hear it played.

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Practice Tips

Tips for Learning the D Major Pentatonic Scale on Guitar

It is D major minus two notes

Take D major (D E F# G A B C#) and drop the 4th (G) and 7th (C#). What remains — D E F# A B — is the pentatonic, with no half-steps to trip over.

Use the open D and B strings

The open D string (4th) is the root and the open B string (2nd) is the 6th degree. Both let you mix open strings into runs for a ringing, country-style sound.

Same notes as B minor pentatonic

D major pentatonic and B minor pentatonic share all five notes. If you know the B minor box at fret 7, you already know D major pentatonic — just resolve to D instead.

Start the first box at fret 2

Anchor position 1 with the root D on the A string at fret 5, or use the open-position shape around frets 2–5 to take advantage of the open strings.

Target D, F#, and A

Those notes spell a D major chord. Resolving onto them makes phrases sound complete; E and B are the colour tones between.

About this tool

About the D Major Pentatonic Scale

The D major pentatonic scale is five notes — D, E, F#, A, B — drawn from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th degrees of D major. Dropping the 4th (G) and 7th (C#) removes every half-step, leaving a bright, open scale that rings beautifully on guitar thanks to the open D and B strings. Its notes are identical to B minor pentatonic, the relative minor.

  • 01Notes: D – E – F# – A – B
  • 02Scale degrees: 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 6 of D major
  • 03Built by removing the 4th (G) and 7th (C#) from D major
  • 04Open D string (root) and open B string (6th) are scale tones
  • 05Relative minor pentatonic: B minor pentatonic (same five notes)
  • 06Contains no half-steps — every note is consonant
  • 07A staple of country, folk, and bright rock leads
Scale Tones

D Major Pentatonic — note by note

Every major pentatonic uses the same five-note formula — scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of the major scale, with the 4th and 7th removed. That is what eliminates the half-steps and leaves only consonant tones.

DegreeNoteRoleInterval
1DRoot (tonic)Unison (0 st)
2EMajor second+2 semitones
3F#Major third+4 semitones
5APerfect fifth+7 semitones
6BMajor sixth+9 semitones
Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

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D Major Pentatonic Scale

Tuning: E - A - D - G - B - E | Display: Sharps (#) | Notes in scale: D, E, F#, A, B | guitartoolhub.com

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