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B in-sen 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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B 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:

B

I

C

bII

E

IV

F♯

V

A

bVII

Same notes, different mode

B 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.

F# locrian pentatonicA flat three pentatonic

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

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

How to play B in-sen on guitar

Open B is a root and both E strings give the fourth over it, so an open drone is on offer in first position. Ignore the open B and the first fretted root turns up at 2 on the A string. Lowest root sits at 7 on the low E, so box one covers frets 7 to 10. One sharp in the signature.

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