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B flat three pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

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

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

D string: D, F#, G#, B, C#, D at frets 0, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12

G string: G#, B, C#, D, F# at frets 1, 4, 6, 7, 11

B string: B, C#, D, F#, G#, B at frets 0, 2, 3, 7, 9, 12

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

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B 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

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

Open B gives the root and open D the minor third, so the defining pair of B flat-three pentatonic rings on two open strings. Fretted roots stay low at fret 2 on the A string and continue at fret 7 on both E strings. With a capo at fret 2, the key converts to A fingerings, which lets open-position patterns transfer directly. First shape lasts through fret 11.

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