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A♭ ritusen Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: F, Ab, Bb, Db, Eb at frets 1, 4, 6, 9, 11

A string: Bb, Db, Eb, F, Ab at frets 1, 4, 6, 8, 11

D string: Eb, F, Ab, Bb, Db at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 11

G string: Ab, Bb, Db, Eb, F at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 10

B string: Db, Eb, F, Ab, Bb at frets 2, 4, 6, 9, 11

High E string: F, Ab, Bb, Db, Eb at frets 1, 4, 6, 9, 11

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Ab ritusen

The ritusen scale is the Japanese ritsu pentatonic: root, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th. It contains the same pitches as the major pentatonic starting a fourth higher, but centering them here gives an open, suspended sound with no 3rd at all. That neutrality is what makes it feel calm and folk-like, and it doubles as a sus-chord vocabulary in modern playing.

it consists of these notes and degrees:

A♭

I

B♭

II

D♭

IV

E♭

V

F

VI

Same notes, different mode

Ab ritusen 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 minor pentatonicDb major pentatonicEb egyptianF malkos raga

ritusen in all 12 keys, with chords and related scales

tip
  • The ritsu sound is the open 2nd and 6th around the missing 3rd: no major, no minor, just calm; keep harmonies to 4ths and 5ths.
  • It shares its pitches with the major pentatonic a 4th above Ab: same notes, different home, so borrow every fingering.
  • Over a sus2 or bare-5th drone, every note lands; it is a folk melody generator with no wrong choices.
  • Contrast register: low root-and-5th ostinato, high II-IV-VI melodic cells... the scale's serenity comes from that spacing.

How to play A♭ ritusen on guitar

Capo fret 1 over a G fingering gives this key, which lets four flats disappear from the reading. Nothing rings open in this key. Roots wait at 1 on the G string, 4 on both E strings, 11 on the A and 6 on the D. Everything root-anchored stays under 8, so the second position gets picked up sooner than in the open keys.

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