STRINGSCALES

A in-sen Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: E, G, A, Bb, D, E at frets 0, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12

A string: A, Bb, D, E, G, A at frets 0, 1, 5, 7, 10, 12

D string: D, E, G, A, Bb, D at frets 0, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12

G string: G, A, Bb, D, E, G at frets 0, 2, 3, 7, 9, 12

B string: D, E, G, A, Bb at frets 3, 5, 8, 10, 11

High E string: E, G, A, Bb, D, E at frets 0, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12

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A in-sen

The in-sen scale is a Japanese pentatonic mixing dark and open colors: root, flat 2nd, 4th, 5th, flat 7th. The flat 2nd supplies the shadow, while the 4th, 5th and flat 7th form the skeleton of a sus chord, so lines resolve into open fourths and fifths. Kenny Kirkland and other jazz players borrowed it for exactly that sus-with-an-edge sound.

it consists of these notes and degrees:

A

I

B♭

bII

D

IV

E

V

G

bVII

Same notes, different mode

A in-sen 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.

E locrian pentatonicG flat three pentatonic

in-sen in all 12 keys, with chords and related scales

tip
  • The dark b2 (Bb) against an otherwise sus-flavored set (IV, V, b7 (G)): open with the half step, then let the 4ths ring.
  • Over a sus7 chord on A it behaves like an exotic sus vocabulary; jazz players use exactly this trick.
  • Build riffs in stacked 4ths (b2 (Bb) to b7 (G)... IV to root...); the scale is practically tuned for quartal playing.
  • End phrases on the 5th (E) rather than the root for the traditional floating finish.

How to play A in-sen on guitar

Open A is the root and both E strings the fifth, so all but the B string can ring while you work above them. Open D adds the fourth. Apart from the open A, the lowest-numbered root is 2 on the G string, then 5 on the high E and 7 on the D. Lowest root sits at 5, so the following box arrives at 9.

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