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F flat three pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: F, G, Ab, C, D at frets 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

A string: C, D, F, G, Ab at frets 3, 5, 8, 10, 11

D string: D, F, G, Ab, C, D at frets 0, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12

G string: G, Ab, C, D, F, G at frets 0, 1, 5, 7, 10, 12

B string: C, D, F, G, Ab at frets 1, 3, 6, 8, 9

High E string: F, G, Ab, C, D at frets 1, 3, 4, 8, 10

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F 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:

F

I

G

II

A♭

bIII

C

V

D

VI

Same notes, different mode

F 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.

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

How to play F flat three pentatonic on guitar

Roots on both E strings sit at fret 1, so the E-shape barre and its box put F flat-three pentatonic right beside the nut. Open G carries the second and open D the sixth, which means two sustaining scale tones cost nothing. Capo at fret 1 re-spells the key as E. Higher up, roots land at fret 8 on the A string and fret 10 on the G string, once the first shape closes at fret 5.

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