B♭ minor pentatonic scale on 6-string bass

B♭ · D♭ · E♭ · F · A♭

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 16 · The minor pentatonic.

The notes

  1. B♭1
  2. D♭♭3
  3. E♭4
  4. F5
  5. A♭♭7

The B♭ minor pentatonic scale is B♭, D♭, E♭, F, A♭.

You may also see it called 1 ♭3 4 5 ♭7.

On the staff

B♭CD♭E♭FG♭A♭B♭

On a bass staff, the B♭ minor pentatonic scale is written B♭ D♭ E♭ F A♭.

The solid notes are the B♭ minor pentatonic scale. The pale notes are the rest of B♭ natural minor, the larger scale it is carved out of, so you can see which notes it leaves out.

Why the B♭ minor pentatonic scale has these flats

  1. B♭1
  2. T+S
  3. D♭♭3
  4. T
  5. E♭4
  6. T
  7. F5
  8. T+S
  9. A♭♭7
  10. T
  11. B♭8

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is T+S T T T+S T: a tone and a half, a tone, a tone, and so on. T stands for a tone, which is two semitones. T+S stands for a tone and a half, which is three semitones. The pattern is what gives B♭ minor pentatonic its sound, and it stays the same whichever note you start on.

This scale has only five notes, so it does not use every letter. It is built on B♭ natural minor, and the notes it shares are spelled the same way as they are there.

The pattern still does not fit the plain letters. If you walk the pattern up from B♭, three letters cannot keep up:

  • D♭ — the flat third. The pattern needs a tone and a half from B♭, but B♭ to D is only 4, so D has to fall to D♭.
  • E♭ — the fourth. The pattern needs a tone from D♭, but D♭ to E is only a tone and a half, so E has to fall to E♭.
  • A♭ — the flat seventh. The pattern needs a tone and a half from F, but F to A is only 4, so A has to fall to A♭.

None of those accidentals was a choice. Once you pick the note to start on, the pattern decides the rest, and a key signature is a record of the result.

The B♭ minor pentatonic scale is written with B♭, D♭, E♭ and A♭. B♭ has its accidental because that is the key, and the other notes need theirs because the T+S T T T+S T pattern of steps cannot be spelled from B♭ with plain letters.

The pattern of steps is the part of a scale that never changes. The letter names take sharps or flats to fit that pattern, and a key signature is a record of those sharps or flats.

On the piano

2CDE5FGAB2CDE5FGAB2CDE5FGAB2CDE5FGAB2CDE5FGAB2C♭3D♭4E♭♭6G♭♭7A♭1B♭♭3D♭4E♭♭6G♭♭7A♭1B♭♭3D♭4E♭♭6G♭♭7A♭1B♭♭3D♭4E♭♭6G♭♭7A♭1B♭♭3D♭4E♭♭6G♭♭7A♭1B♭C0C1C2C3C4C5

The keyboard shows the same five notes as a shape you can see. The coloured keys are the B♭ minor pentatonic scale, the pale keys are the rest of B♭ natural minor, and you can click any key to hear it.

B♭ minor pentatonic scale on the whole neck

BEADGC123456789101112131415D♭♭3E♭4F5A♭♭7B♭1D♭♭3F5A♭♭7B♭1D♭♭3E♭4F5B♭1D♭♭3E♭4F5A♭♭7B♭1E♭4F5A♭♭7B♭1D♭♭3E♭4F5A♭♭7B♭1D♭♭3E♭4F5A♭♭7B♭1D♭♭3E♭4F5A♭♭7B♭1D♭♭3E♭4

60 notes of the B♭ minor pentatonic scale are marked across six strings.

This is every place the notes of the B♭ minor pentatonic scale fall on the 6-string bass, with each note's name and its scale degree. The roots are marked so you can find your bearings.

The five boxes

Box 1 — starts on the 1
BEADGC1011121314151♭345♭71♭345♭71♭3
Box 2 — starts on the ♭3
BEADGC1314151617♭345♭71♭345♭71♭34
Box 3 — starts on the 4
BEADGC151617181945♭71♭345♭71♭345
Box 4 — starts on the 5
BEADGC1718192021225♭71♭345♭71♭345♭7
Box 5 — starts on the ♭7
BEADGC2021222324♭71♭345♭71♭345♭71

The B♭ minor pentatonic scale has five playable positions, at frets 10–14, 13–16, 15–18, 17–21 and 20–23.

There are five shapes, and each one starts on a different note of the scale. Once you know one shape you can slide it along the neck, and once you know all five they join up to cover the whole neck.

One climb up the neck

BEADGC11121314151617181♭345♭71♭345♭71♭345TAB1114111311131113151315131517

The climb runs from fret 11 to fret 17 and plays fourteen notes.

This is one path from the lowest root to the top of the neck, and it plays each note once, never on two strings. It takes a different number of notes on different strings. The widest stretch on any one string is four frets.