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A flat three pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: E, F#, A, B, C, E at frets 0, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12

A string: A, B, C, E, F#, A at frets 0, 2, 3, 7, 9, 12

D string: E, F#, A, B, C at frets 2, 4, 7, 9, 10

G string: A, B, C, E, F# at frets 2, 4, 5, 9, 11

B string: B, C, E, F#, A, B at frets 0, 1, 5, 7, 10, 12

High E string: E, F#, A, B, C, E at frets 0, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12

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A 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

A 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.

B 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 (C); play familiar boxes and move one finger.
  • The II to b3 (C) half step... use it as a hammer-on ornament; it is the scale's characteristic inflection.
  • Over a m6 chord on A, 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

Open A sounds the root while both E strings hold the fifth, so A flat-three pentatonic gets a built-in root-fifth bed on the open strings. Open B joins on the second, which means four open strings in total serve this key. Fretted roots show up at fret 2 on the G string and fret 5 on both E strings, where the E-shape barre also anchors. Box one gives way at fret 9.

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