STRINGSCALES

D♭ flat three pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: Fb, Ab, Bb, Db, Eb, Fb at frets 0, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12

A string: Bb, Db, Eb, Fb, Ab at frets 1, 4, 6, 7, 11

D string: Eb, Fb, Ab, Bb, Db at frets 1, 2, 6, 8, 11

G string: Ab, Bb, Db, Eb, Fb at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 9

B string: Db, Eb, Fb, Ab, Bb at frets 2, 4, 5, 9, 11

High E string: Fb, Ab, Bb, Db, Eb, Fb at frets 0, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12

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Db 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:

D♭

I

E♭

II

F♭

bIII

A♭

V

B♭

VI

Same notes, different mode

Db 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.

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

How to play D♭ flat three pentatonic on guitar

Both open E strings sound the minor third of Db flat-three pentatonic, which means the scale's flat three rings on the outer strings for free. Capo at fret 1 and C fingerings apply unchanged. Roots sit at fret 4 on the A string and fret 9 on both E strings, so barre players can drop the A-shape and E-shape at those exact frets. First box travels out to fret 13.

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