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C flat three pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: G, A, C, D, Eb at frets 3, 5, 8, 10, 11

A string: A, C, D, Eb, G, A at frets 0, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12

D string: D, Eb, G, A, C, D at frets 0, 1, 5, 7, 10, 12

G string: G, A, C, D, Eb, G at frets 0, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12

B string: C, D, Eb, G, A at frets 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

High E string: G, A, C, D, Eb at frets 3, 5, 8, 10, 11

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C 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:

C

I

D

II

E♭

bIII

G

V

A

VI

Same notes, different mode

C 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.

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

How to play C flat three pentatonic on guitar

Open D, G and A cover the second, fifth and sixth of C flat-three pentatonic, so three middle strings can ring under any line you fret. Roots arrive at fret 1 and fret 3. Five notes per octave leave air in the first box, which stretches to fret 12 before repeating. Same fingering answers to D in-sen from two semitones up, which means one pattern earns you a second scale name.

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