Five Pentatonic Positions
The five-note or “pentatonic” scale is ancient and universal. It is used freely in American fiddle tunes. Harmonically, it is more forgiving than a major scale because its tones can be played in any order without harmonic dissonance. When you fully integrate the various patterns of this scale into your fretboard knowledge, it allows you to play in many keys out of simple left-hand positions.
Here’s the music and tablature of this scale for the five string banjo in G:
You can find more information and exercises for the pentatonic scale in the Mel Bay book: