C minor pentatonic scale
- Notes
- C Eb F G Bb
- Formula
- 1 b3 4 5 b7
- Steps
- W+H W W W+H W (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 minor pentatonic on the piano
From C4 to C5, the root in blue-green.
Intervals from C
| Note | Degree | Interval | Semitones |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | 1 | root | 0 |
| Eb | b3 | minor third | 3 |
| F | 4 | perfect fourth | 5 |
| G | 5 | perfect fifth | 7 |
| Bb | b7 | minor seventh | 10 |
C minor 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 minor 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 minor pentatonic uses exactly the same notes as Eb major pentatonic. What changes is the note the music keeps returning to, and with it which chord sounds like home.
How C minor pentatonic is built
The natural minor without its 2nd and 6th: D and Ab are left out of C natural minor. The five notes left have no semitone steps, which makes it the first scale most guitarists learn for soloing. On a guitar in standard tuning the first "box" shape starts at fret 8 of the low E string, where C is. It has the same notes as Eb major pentatonic; add Gb and you have the C blues scale.
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.