E Major Pentatonic — Puerto Rican Cuatro (Standard)

E Major Pentatonic is 5 notes to the octave (pentatonic family), drawn here across the Puerto Rican Cuatro (Standard)'s B-E-A-D-G strings with every E marked, so home stays visible from anywhere in the pattern.

Open, sunny, and hard to play wrong — with no half steps there is nothing to clash, so every note sits comfortably over a major chord. Warm, folksy, and singable.

Heard in: Country, bluegrass, folk, gospel, Southern rock, and countless pop hooks — from "Amazing Grace" to "My Girl".

Five courses spanning a minor thirteenth give a scale room to breathe: three or four notes to a course in first position, and a top string clear enough that a melody can live there while the rest of the grip stays down. These maps light every root so a run knows where home is before it leaves.

Work it in one position before you work it up the neck. The doubled courses forgive nothing: a fret held half a millimetre short buzzes on one string of the pair and rings on the other, and that difference is audible long before the run is fast.