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B♭ flat three pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: F, G, Bb, C, Db at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 9

A string: Bb, C, Db, F, G at frets 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

D string: F, G, Bb, C, Db at frets 3, 5, 8, 10, 11

G string: G, Bb, C, Db, F, G at frets 0, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12

B string: C, Db, F, G, Bb at frets 1, 2, 6, 8, 11

High E string: F, G, Bb, C, Db at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 9

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Bb 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:

B♭

I

C

II

D♭

bIII

F

V

G

VI

Same notes, different mode

Bb 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.

C in-senG 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 (Db); play familiar boxes and move one finger.
  • The II to b3 (Db) half step... use it as a hammer-on ornament; it is the scale's characteristic inflection.
  • Over a m6 chord on Bb, all five notes are chord tones or colors: no avoid notes, pure vocabulary.
  • Write phrases ending on the 6th (G) over a minor chord for the bright-sad kumoi cadence.

How to play B♭ flat three pentatonic on guitar

A-shape barre for Bb flat-three pentatonic sits at fret 1, so the key's easiest full grip lives at the very first fret. Open G, the sixth, is the only open tone. Capo at fret 1 and A fingerings handle everything, which means one fret of hardware buys back open-position habits. Roots climb from fret 1 on the A string to fret 3 on the G string and fret 6 on both E strings, before the box breaks at fret 10.

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