Scales
Ab Major Pentatonic Scale
Ab · Bb · C · Eb · F
Five notes taken from the major scale, with the two half steps removed — and nothing left that can clash.
Ab Major Pentatonic Scale
Ab · Bb · C · Eb · F
Fingering on the piano
| Hand | Fingering | Notes | Play it on your instrument |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right hand | 2 3 1 2 1 2 | Ab · Bb · C · Eb · F · Ab | |
| Left hand | 3 2 1 2 1 3 | Ab · Bb · C · Eb · F · Ab |
One octave ascending; 1 is the thumb. A standard fingering, not the only one.
Tap a key or a fret to hear it.
Scale degrees
Ab Major Pentatonic is made of the notes Ab · Bb · C · Eb · F. Each is a degree counted from the tonic, and the gaps between them are the step pattern W W W½ W W½.
Read on: scale degrees · building any scale · pentatonic and blues scales
Related scales
Ab Major Pentatonic is a selection of notes from larger scales rather than a seven-note scale of its own, so it has no chords of its own: it takes them from the scales that contain it, listed here with the scales it contains and its related keys.
G# Major PentatonicG# · A# · B# · D# · E#
The same sound, spelled from the enharmonic root
Scales that contain it
Ab MajorAb · Bb · C · Db · Eb · F · G
Contains every note of Ab Major Pentatonic.
Ab Major BluesAb · Bb · Cb · C · Eb · F
Contains every note of Ab Major Pentatonic.
Ab BebopAb · Bb · C · Db · Eb · F · Gb · G
Contains every note of Ab Major Pentatonic.
Ab LydianAb · Bb · C · D · Eb · F · G
Contains every note of Ab Major Pentatonic.
Ab MixolydianAb · Bb · C · Db · Eb · F · Gb
Contains every note of Ab Major Pentatonic.
Ab Lydian DominantAb · Bb · C · D · Eb · F · Gb
Contains every note of Ab Major Pentatonic.
Understanding Ab Major Pentatonic
Names and spellings
The major and minor pentatonic scales share their five notes, like a major key and its relative minor. On guitar “the pentatonic scale” usually means the minor one; in method books for other instruments it usually means the major one.
Ab Major Pentatonic and G# Major Pentatonic are the same sound spelled two ways; both have a page here, and each links to the other. G# Major Pentatonic
How it is built
On Ab the scale is Ab · Bb · C · Eb · F, following the step pattern W W W½ W W½. It is the major scale without its fourth and seventh degrees.
Those are exactly the two notes that form the major scale’s half steps and its tritone. Remove them and no two notes in the scale are a semitone apart, which is why nothing you play can sound wrong.
How it is used
It is the first scale most improvisers learn, and it appears independently in folk traditions across the world — which is less a coincidence than a consequence of how few ways there are to divide an octave without dissonance.
It shares all five notes with the minor pentatonic a minor third below, so the same shape does double duty depending on which note you treat as home.
Learn this properly
Chapter 7: Scales: Major and MinorCommon questions
- What notes are in the Ab Major Pentatonic?
- The Ab Major Pentatonic contains Ab · Bb · C · Eb · F. Find every scale that contains these notes with the scale finder.
- Why does the pentatonic scale always sound good?
- It contains no semitones and no tritone, so there is no interval in it that clashes with the underlying chords.
- How is major pentatonic related to minor pentatonic?
- They contain the same five notes. The minor pentatonic starts a minor third below, which changes which note sounds like home.
- How do I play Ab Major Pentatonic?
- On guitar start with the 1st position, played from the lowest string upward; the instrument panel on this page shows its frets and the positions further up the neck. On the piano the right hand ascends 2 3 1 2 1 2, with 1 as the thumb. Every position plays when you press it.
- What is the formula of Ab Major Pentatonic?
- From Ab the steps run W W W½ W W½, where a whole step is two frets or two keys and a half step one. Apply the same pattern from any other note and you get the same scale on that root, which is why every root of this scale has a page here.