F 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

C C♯D E♭E F F♯G A♭A B♭B

major natural minor dorian mixolydian lydian phrygian locrian harmonic minor melodic minor lydian dominant altered major pentatonic minor pentatonic blues whole tone diminished half-whole diminished

The notes of F major pentatonic

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

Twelve 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 F 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 F major pentatonic over

The chords on F whose every note this scale contains, biggest first. The largest of them is the one that pins the scale down: over F69 there is nothing in F major pentatonic that can sound wrong.

F69 Fadd9 F6 F Fsus2 F5

Modes of this scale

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

F 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.

F major pentatonic scale

The notes of F major pentatonic

Chords from F major pentatonic

What to play F major pentatonic over

Modes of this scale

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