C major pentatonic scale
- Notes
- C D E G A
- Formula
- 1 2 3 5 6
- Steps
- W W W+H W W+H (W tone, H semitone)
Five notes from C up to the next C. Each note is written with the letter its degree names, so the spelling follows the formula.
C major pentatonic on the piano
From C4 to C5, the root in blue-green.
Intervals from C
| Note | Degree | Interval | Semitones |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | 1 | root | 0 |
| D | 2 | major second | 2 |
| E | 3 | major third | 4 |
| G | 5 | perfect fifth | 7 |
| A | 6 | major sixth | 9 |
C major pentatonic on the guitar
Standard tuning, high e on top as in tablature, open strings to fret 12. Every dot is a note of the scale; the pattern repeats from fret 12 up.
Chords that fit C major pentatonic
Every chord of the common types (triads, sus, sixths, sevenths, add9, 7b9, 7#9) whose notes are all in the scale, on each of its notes, spelled as on the chord pages. A 5-note scale has no single set of "the" chords the way a seven-note scale does.
Same notes, different home note
C major pentatonic uses exactly the same notes as A minor pentatonic. What changes is the note the music keeps returning to, and with it which chord sounds like home.
How C major pentatonic is built
The major scale without its 4th and 7th: F and B are left out of C major. Those are the two notes a semitone away from their neighbours, so the pentatonic has no semitones at all and no note clashes hard with the C chord. It has the same five notes as A minor pentatonic, started from a different note.
Played some notes and not sure which scale they come from? The scale finder listens to the piano, a MIDI keyboard or the microphone and ranks all 180 scales.
What this page cannot do
- One spelling per scale. the root is spelled the way that needs the fewest sharps and flats.
- Equal temperament only. Blues and many folk traditions bend notes between these pitches, and Arabic and Turkish maqam scales use quarter tones that a piano cannot play.
- The guitar diagram shows standard tuning only and does not suggest fingerings; any note can be played in several places.
- The sound is a simple synthesised tone made in your browser, not a recorded instrument.