Ab major pentatonic scale

5 notes · the two notes it leaves out

The major scale with the 4th and 7th removed -- which are exactly the two notes that can clash with the chords under it. What is left has no semitones at all, so nothing in it can sound wrong, and it is the first scale most players learn to solo with.

Heard in: Country, pop, gospel and rock leads; the black keys of a piano.

Key
CC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭B
majornatural minordorianmixolydianlydianphrygianlocrianharmonic minormelodic minorlydian dominantlydian augmentedalteredmajor pentatonicminor pentatonicblueswhole tonediminishedhalf-whole diminished

The notes of Ab major pentatonic

The whole scale, with each note’s degree underneath it.

Ab
1
Bb
2
C
3
Eb
5
F
6
357912156, E string fret 161, E string fret 412, E string fret 623, E string fret 835, E string fret 1156, E string fret 1362, A string fret 123, A string fret 335, A string fret 656, A string fret 861, A string fret 1112, A string fret 1323, A string fret 1535, D string fret 156, D string fret 361, D string fret 612, D string fret 823, D string fret 1035, D string fret 1356, D string fret 1561, G string fret 112, G string fret 323, G string fret 535, G string fret 856, G string fret 1061, G string fret 1312, G string fret 1523, B string fret 135, B string fret 456, B string fret 661, B string fret 912, B string fret 1123, B string fret 1336, e string fret 161, e string fret 412, e string fret 623, e string fret 835, e string fret 1156, e string fret 136
15 frets in standard tuning, high E at the top. Each dot is labelled with its degree rather than its note, because that is the part that moves with you when you play the shape somewhere else. The green dot is the root of whatever is being shown — the scale, or the chord chosen out of it.

Chords from Ab major pentatonic

Stacking thirds through this scale does not give chords: the gaps in it are not thirds. It is a scale to play over chords rather than one to build them from, so what matters here is which chords it fits, below.

What to play Ab major pentatonic over

The chords on Ab whose every note this scale contains, biggest first. The largest of them is the one that pins the scale down: over Ab69 there is nothing in Ab major pentatonic that can sound wrong.

Ab69Abadd9Ab6AbAbsus2Ab5

Modes of this scale

Same notes, different home. Which one you are in is decided by the chord underneath, not by the notes.

Ab minor pentatonic

Every scale on every root is on the scale index, and every chord on the chord index. Where the shapes and the theory come from is on the about page.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode