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A♭ flat three pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: F, Ab, Bb, Cb, Eb at frets 1, 4, 6, 7, 11

A string: Bb, Cb, Eb, F, Ab at frets 1, 2, 6, 8, 11

D string: Eb, F, Ab, Bb, Cb at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 9

G string: Ab, Bb, Cb, Eb, F at frets 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

B string: Cb, Eb, F, Ab, Bb, Cb at frets 0, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12

High E string: F, Ab, Bb, Cb, Eb at frets 1, 4, 6, 7, 11

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Ab flat three pentatonic

The flat three pentatonic is better known as the Japanese kumoi scale: root, 2nd, flat 3rd, 5th, 6th. It reads as a major pentatonic with the 3rd darkened, or as a five note slice of dorian, and both hearings are useful. The 2nd and 6th around the minor 3rd give it a bright-dark ambiguity that works from folk melodies to fusion lines.

it consists of these notes and degrees:

A♭

I

B♭

II

C♭

bIII

E♭

V

F

VI

Same notes, different mode

Ab flat three pentatonic uses the same notes as the scales below. Start from a different note and you get a new mode built on the very same note set.

Bb in-senF locrian pentatonic

flat three pentatonic in all 12 keys, with chords and related scales

tip
  • This is the Japanese kumoi sound: major pentatonic shape with the 3rd darkened to b3 (B); play familiar boxes and move one finger.
  • The II to b3 (B) half step... use it as a hammer-on ornament; it is the scale's characteristic inflection.
  • Over a m6 chord on Ab, all five notes are chord tones or colors: no avoid notes, pure vocabulary.
  • Write phrases ending on the 6th (F) over a minor chord for the bright-sad kumoi cadence.

How to play A♭ flat three pentatonic on guitar

First root hides at fret 1 on the G string, so Ab flat-three pentatonic starts lower on the neck than its four-flat spelling suggests. Open B rings the scale's minor third. With a capo at fret 1, G fingerings take over completely, which means the key costs no new shapes. Roots on the outer strings wait at fret 4, and the first pattern spends itself by fret 8.

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