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D♭ ritusen Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: Gb, Ab, Bb, Db, Eb at frets 2, 4, 6, 9, 11

A string: Bb, Db, Eb, Gb, Ab at frets 1, 4, 6, 9, 11

D string: Eb, Gb, Ab, Bb, Db at frets 1, 4, 6, 8, 11

G string: Ab, Bb, Db, Eb, Gb at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 11

B string: Db, Eb, Gb, Ab, Bb at frets 2, 4, 7, 9, 11

High E string: Gb, Ab, Bb, Db, Eb at frets 2, 4, 6, 9, 11

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Db ritusen

The ritusen scale is the Japanese ritsu pentatonic: root, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th. It contains the same pitches as the major pentatonic starting a fourth higher, but centering them here gives an open, suspended sound with no 3rd at all. That neutrality is what makes it feel calm and folk-like, and it doubles as a sus-chord vocabulary in modern playing.

it consists of these notes and degrees:

D♭

I

E♭

II

G♭

IV

A♭

V

B♭

VI

Same notes, different mode

Db ritusen 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 minor pentatonicGb major pentatonicAb egyptianBb malkos raga

ritusen in all 12 keys, with chords and related scales

tip
  • The ritsu sound is the open 2nd and 6th around the missing 3rd: no major, no minor, just calm; keep harmonies to 4ths and 5ths.
  • It shares its pitches with the major pentatonic a 4th above Db: same notes, different home, so borrow every fingering.
  • Over a sus2 or bare-5th drone, every note lands; it is a folk melody generator with no wrong choices.
  • Contrast register: low root-and-5th ostinato, high II-IV-VI melodic cells... the scale's serenity comes from that spacing.

How to play D♭ ritusen on guitar

Capo fret 1 and the C fingering becomes this one, which lets the whole key stay in open-string territory despite five flats. No open string belongs here, so every root has to be fretted: 9 on both E strings, 4 on the A, 6 on the G. Eb minor pentatonic uses the identical box a whole step up. Position work closes out at 13.

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