Low E string: Fb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Eb, Fb at frets 0, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12
A string: Bb, Cb, Eb, Fb, Ab at frets 1, 2, 6, 7, 11
D string: Eb, Fb, Ab, Bb, Cb at frets 1, 2, 6, 8, 9
G string: Ab, Bb, Cb, Eb, Fb at frets 1, 3, 4, 8, 9
B string: Cb, Eb, Fb, Ab, Bb, Cb at frets 0, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12
High E string: Fb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Eb, Fb at frets 0, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12
The hirajoshi scale is the best known Japanese pentatonic: root, 2nd, flat 3rd, 5th, flat 6th. Each half step resolves downward (b3 to 2, b6 to 5), which creates its elegant, melancholy motion. It has long since escaped traditional koto music: metal and fusion players from Marty Friedman onward mine it for exotic riffs that still sit over a plain minor chord.
it consists of these notes and degrees:
I
II
bIII
V
bVI
Same notes, different mode
Ab hirajoshi 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.
How to play A♭ hirajoshi on guitar
Fret 1 on the G string is the root closest to the nut, and one fret of capo turns the key into G, so a shape you already play covers it. Both E strings and the B string fall in the key when open, at the minor sixth and minor third. Lowest root is 4 on the low E, which means the first box tops out at 8. E lydian pentatonic sits eight semitones above.
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