C Major Pentatonic Scale

The notes

The C major pentatonic scale is C, D, E, G, A.

You may also see it called 1 2 3 5 6.

On the staff

On a bass staff, the C major pentatonic scale is written C D E G A.

The solid notes are the C major pentatonic scale. The pale notes are the rest of C major, the larger scale it is carved out of, so you can see which notes it leaves out.

Why the C major pentatonic scale has no sharps or flats

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is T T T+S T T+S: a tone, a tone, a tone and a half, 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 C major 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 C major with some notes taken out, and it keeps that scale's spelling exactly.

Every letter already falls where the pattern needs it, so C major pentatonic is written with no sharps or flats at all.

The C major pentatonic scale needs no sharps or flats, because every letter already falls where the T T T+S T T+S pattern of steps needs it.

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

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

C major pentatonic scale on the whole neck

36 notes of the C major pentatonic scale are marked across four strings.

This is every place the notes of the C major pentatonic scale fall on the 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

Box 2 — starts on the 2

Box 3 — starts on the 3

Box 4 — starts on the 5

Box 5 — starts on the 6

The C major pentatonic scale has five playable positions, at frets 7–10, 9–12, 12–15, 14–17 and 17–20.

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

The climb runs from fret 8 to fret 19 and plays twelve 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 three notes on every string. The widest stretch on any one string is five frets.