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D in-sen 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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D 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:

D

I

E♭

bII

G

IV

A

V

C

bVII

Same notes, different mode

D 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.

A locrian pentatonicC flat three pentatonic

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

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

How to play D in-sen on guitar

Three open strings ring in this key and the open D is itself a root, so a pedal under low-position work costs no fingers. Open A adds the fifth and open G the fourth, which puts a full drone beneath any phrase up the neck. Past that open D, fretted roots begin at the 3rd fret on the B string, then the 5th on the A. Lowest root sits at fret 10.

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