Fretboard Reference
The box shapes cover the neck by climbing six strings in one spot. This is a different way to see the same scale — a short shape on just two strings that slides across to the next pair, a little higher each time, until it's covered the whole width of the neck. Two shapes do this. And since a minor pentatonic shares its five notes with the major pentatonic a minor 3rd above it, both shapes below have a minor root and a major root marked on them — you're looking at two scales at once. Shown here in A minor / C major; slide the whole system to any root.
Two notes on the first string of each pair, three on the second — the same five notes, three times over: once down at fret 3, once in the middle, once up at fret 8.
Three notes on the first string of each pair, two on the second — the same five notes, three times over, starting further up the neck than Shape 1.
Each pair of strings picks up the same little shape 2 frets higher than the last — except going from the G string to the B string, which is 3 frets, because that's the one place standard tuning skips a major 3rd instead of a 4th.