Scale family
A♭ major pentatonic
Five notes: A♭ B♭ C E♭ F. Use the boxes below to find this scale in different parts of the neck.
G♯ and A♭ are the same pitch. This scale is written as A♭ major pentatonic because the key it comes from needs fewer accidentals as A♭ than as G♯.
- Notes
- A♭ B♭ C E♭ F
- 1 2 3 5 6
- Same notes as
- F minor pentatonic Its relative
- Add the ♭3
- A♭ major blues The blue note, C♭
- Root, A♭
- Notes of the box
- Notes of the chord you're on
- Blue note
Jam along
The 12-bar blues in A♭
Play along with a repeating twelve-bar blues. The neck highlights the notes in your box that belong to the current chord.
The blue note
Add the blue note
Put C♭ between B♭ and C and the major pentatonic becomes the A♭ major blues scale. Try sliding through it into a neighbouring note.
Pentatonic
- A♭
- B♭
- C
- E♭
- F
Major blues
- A♭
- B♭
- C♭
- C
- E♭
- F
Hear both
Exercises
Five drills, with a click
Start in box 1 and play along with the metronome. Follow the highlighted notes on the neck above.
- Box 1, up and downEvery note once, low to high and back. Say the note names.70 bpmLevel 1
- Connect box 1 to box 2Up box 1, slide to box 2, back down. The shared notes are the bridge.70 bpmLevel 1
- Groups of threeThree notes at a time, one step up each time, through box 1.80 bpmLevel 2
- Hit the chord's notesOver the 12-bar, land on the lit notes as each chord changes.90 bpmLevel 2
- Call and responseHear a two-bar phrase, then answer it in the gap.80 bpmLevel 2