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E♭ flat three pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: F, Gb, Bb, C, Eb at frets 1, 2, 6, 8, 11

A string: Bb, C, Eb, F, Gb at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 9

D string: Eb, F, Gb, Bb, C at frets 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

G string: Bb, C, Eb, F, Gb at frets 3, 5, 8, 10, 11

B string: C, Eb, F, Gb, Bb at frets 1, 4, 6, 7, 11

High E string: F, Gb, Bb, C, Eb at frets 1, 2, 6, 8, 11

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Eb 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:

E♭

I

F

II

G♭

bIII

B♭

V

C

VI

Same notes, different mode

Eb 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.

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

How to play E♭ flat three pentatonic on guitar

First root sits just one fret up, on the D string, so the key stays reachable in open position even though no open string belongs to the scale. Capo at fret 1 and it all becomes D fingerings, which means familiar shapes and drones come back. More roots wait at fret 4 on the B string and fret 6 on the A string, letting the A-shape barre anchor at that same fret 6. E-shape playing centers at fret 11. First box stretches to fret 15.

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