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Hey @Kitman ;
The direct answer to your question is: yes and no. If you are talking about the minor pentatonic, yes. If you are talking the major pentatonic, no. If you are talking about the full, diatonic scale shapes, then yes, absolutely.
But the circle of 5ths and the scale shapes are only aids to playing the fretboard until you actually “get it”. But they will never give it to you as they are “crutches” which only enable you to never learn it.
Learn the scale pattern, theory, then apply that to the fretboard, reality. Then you will see the whole thing, and it is surprisingly easy if you start looking at it the right way.
So, the real answer is to use the scale shapes to understand how a “key” fits onto the fretboard. Of course, that is impossible if you don’t know what a key is. If you think G major and Em are keys, you will never get it.
This leads you back to the circle of 5ths. Understand the keys. There are only 12 and they all have the same pattern. And each one has the same 7 variations called modes. Now, go back to the scale shapes and learn how to “see” the keys in the scales shapes you are playing.
It turns out, the secret is seeing intervals. First, see the intervals of the major scale. Now, realize, all the other modes (yes, the major scale is a mode, not a key) are the exact same pattern, they are simply shifted. Once you see that, now you can put those interval patterns onto the fretboard. But, you have to know how to go across the strings. And that’s simple. Starting from the lowest string 6, it is 5 half steps, or 5 frets, up in pitch to go to the 5th string. So, again, starting from the 6th, it is: 5, 5, 5, 4, 5.
So here’s all you ever need to “memorize”. 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1; and 5, 5, 5, 4, 5. Well, there are a few minor details, and no, I’m not kidding. Like the “blue” note. And the minor scale variations, there are 2 of them. But aside from those additions, those 2 strings of numbers allows you to play up and down and across the fretboard in any key. And you can understand and even derive standard chords, jazz chords, finger picking chords.
Once you “see” the scale patterns fitting onto the fretboard, everything makes sense and fits together. Otherwise, there are a blue million things that don’t fit together and have to be “memorized”.
MG 😀