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Pentatonic scale on bass
The pentatonic scale on bass guitar: the minor pentatonic box on four strings, the root on the E and A strings for every key, played at a tap, MIDI to take.
Mika reads the pentatonic scale on bass as 3 2 2 3 2. Semitones, not feelings.Tap Hear it, or tap any note on the board.
A C D E G
The notes of the A pentatonic scale
A C D E G
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 A minor without its 2nd and 6th (B and F). The same five notes are the C major pentatonic scale.
The A pentatonic scale on bass
One position, frets 4–8, E string first: E: 5 8 (1 ♭3) · A: 5 7 (4 5) · D: 5 7 (♭7 1) · G: 5 7 (♭3 4). 0 = open string.
1 is the root. Put it on the fret the table below gives for your key and the same shape plays that key. On bass the shape sits under one hand, one finger per fret, and the octave is two strings up and two frets on.
The pentatonic scale in all twelve keys
| Root | minor pentatonic scale | major pentatonic scale | Fret, low string | Octave, D string |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | C E♭ F G B♭ | C D E G A | 8 | 10 |
| C♯ | C♯ E F♯ G♯ B | C♯ D♯ E♯ G♯ A♯ | 9 | 11 |
| D | D F G A C | D E F♯ A B | 10 | 0 |
| E♭ | E♭ G♭ A♭ B♭ D♭ | E♭ F G B♭ C | 11 | 1 |
| E | E G A B D | E F♯ G♯ B C♯ | 0 | 2 |
| F | F A♭ B♭ C E♭ | F G A C D | 1 | 3 |
| F♯ | F♯ A B C♯ E | F♯ G♯ A♯ C♯ D♯ | 2 | 4 |
| G | G B♭ C D F | G A B D E | 3 | 5 |
| G♯ | G♯ B C♯ D♯ F♯ | G♯ A♯ B♯ D♯ E♯ | 4 | 6 |
| A | A C D E G | A B C♯ E F♯ | 5 | 7 |
| B♭ | B♭ D♭ E♭ F A♭ | B♭ C D F G | 6 | 8 |
| B | B D E F♯ A | B C♯ D♯ F♯ G♯ | 7 | 9 |
Fills that can't go wrong
On bass the minor pentatonic is the safest fill: root, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭7 cover the notes that sit under almost any rock, funk or soul groove in that key. Start with root, 5 and octave (fret 5, 7 on the A string and 7 on the D string in A), then add the ♭7 and ♭3 in between. On a major chord, use the major pentatonic shape instead.
More scales
Pentatonic scale Pentatonic scale on guitar Pentatonic scale on piano Minor scale on bass Major scale on bass Minor pentatonic scale on bass
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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