C minor pentatonic scale

The notes of the C minor pentatonic scale

C E♭ F G B♭

Formula: 1 ♭3 4 5 ♭7. Steps from note to note: 3 2 2 3 2 semitones (one and a half, whole, whole, one and a half, whole).

Natural C minor without its 2nd and 6th (D and A♭). The same five notes are the E♭ major pentatonic scale.

In Hz, from C4: C4 261.6 · E♭4 311.1 · F4 349.2 · G4 392.0 · B♭4 466.2.

The C minor pentatonic scale on the piano

White keys: C F G; black keys: E♭ B♭.

For the fingering, slide the thumb under after the black keys, never onto one.

The C minor pentatonic scale on guitar

One position, frets 7–11, low E string first: low E: 8 11 (C E♭) · A: 8 10 (F G) · D: 8 10 (B♭ C) · G: 8 10 (E♭ F) · B: 8 11 (G B♭) · high E: 8 11 (C E♭). 0 = open string.

The root C sits at fret 8 on the low E string and at fret 3 on the A string. Slide the same shape there for any other root.

Three flats, one box

On guitar C minor pentatonic is the A minor box moved up three frets to the 8th fret. On the piano it is two black keys (E♭, B♭) and three white. Its twin is E♭ major pentatonic, the same five notes with E♭ as home.

More scales

Minor pentatonic scale A minor pentatonic scale E minor pentatonic scale D minor pentatonic scale G minor pentatonic scale C major scale on guitar C minor: scale and chords

How this page works

Hear it plays the scale up and down at 100 BPM on one of four Brumm sounds. Take it gives the same notes as a MIDI file and a WAV. − and + move the root. Every note here is computed from the formula.

Sources

Scales and modes: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Piano fingerings: the standard scale-book fingerings (ABRSM scale books; Hanon, The Virtuoso Pianist, part 3). Trumpet valves: the standard B♭ trumpet fingering chart (Yamaha, Bach). Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.

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