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G♭ flat three pentatonic Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: Gb, Ab, Bbb, Db, Eb at frets 2, 4, 5, 9, 11

A string: Bbb, Db, Eb, Gb, Ab, Bbb at frets 0, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12

D string: Eb, Gb, Ab, Bbb, Db at frets 1, 4, 6, 7, 11

G string: Ab, Bbb, Db, Eb, Gb at frets 1, 2, 6, 8, 11

B string: Db, Eb, Gb, Ab, Bbb at frets 2, 4, 7, 9, 10

High E string: Gb, Ab, Bbb, Db, Eb at frets 2, 4, 5, 9, 11

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Gb 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:

G♭

I

A♭

II

B𝄫

bIII

D♭

V

E♭

VI

Same notes, different mode

Gb 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.

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

How to play G♭ flat three pentatonic on guitar

Only the open A string joins Gb flat-three pentatonic, sounding its minor third, so one drone survives the five-flat spelling. Clamp a capo at fret 2 and the whole key reads as E, which means standard shapes come straight back. Roots sit at fret 2 on both E strings and fret 4 on the D string, with the A-shape barre at fret 9. Position one closes at fret 6.

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