Eb minor pentatonic scale

5 notes · the ♭3 and ♭7 · the 5th mode of the major pentatonic scale

The same five notes as the major pentatonic a minor third above. Its ♭3 and ♭7 sit over major and minor chords alike, which is why it works over a blues where neither a major nor a minor scale does.

Heard in: Blues and rock lead playing, more or less in its entirety.

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

The notes of Eb minor pentatonic

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

Eb
1
Gb
♭3
Ab
4
Bb
5
Db
♭7
35791215♭3, E string fret 2♭34, E string fret 445, E string fret 65♭7, E string fret 9♭71, E string fret 111♭3, E string fret 14♭35, A string fret 15♭7, A string fret 4♭71, A string fret 61♭3, A string fret 9♭34, A string fret 1145, A string fret 1351, D string fret 11♭3, D string fret 4♭34, D string fret 645, D string fret 85♭7, D string fret 11♭71, D string fret 1314, G string fret 145, G string fret 35♭7, G string fret 6♭71, G string fret 81♭3, G string fret 11♭34, G string fret 1345, G string fret 155♭7, B string fret 2♭71, B string fret 41♭3, B string fret 7♭34, B string fret 945, B string fret 115♭7, B string fret 14♭7♭3, e string fret 2♭34, e string fret 445, e string fret 65♭7, e string fret 9♭71, e string fret 111♭3, e string fret 14♭3
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 Eb minor 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 Eb minor pentatonic over

The chords on Eb whose every note this scale contains, biggest first. The largest of them is the one that pins the scale down: over Ebm7 there is nothing in Eb minor pentatonic that can sound wrong.

Ebm7Eb7sus4EbmEbsus4Eb5

The other modes of the same notes

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

Eb major 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