Chord Colors

E♭ Suspended Pentatonic scale

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About the E flat Suspended Pentatonic scale

E flat Suspended Pentatonic is used for modal, folk and Asian-flavored melodies. Think of it as a five-note scale with no third, all open fourths and fifths. It is E Minor Pentatonic with the third lowered.

Its notes are E, F, A, B, and D. The formula is W 1½ W 1½ W. It is the second mode of D Major Pentatonic.

Also called Egyptian and Neutral Pentatonic.

Learn more about the E♭ Suspended Pentatonic scale

On guitar, the deepest E within reach is the 6th fret of the A string. A capo at the first fret lets a guitarist play E Suspended Pentatonic with D-shape fingerings.

Positions

Playable shapes for this scale up the neck. Tap any note to hear it.

Pentatonic boxes

The five shapes blues and rock are built on, the first scale most guitarists ever solo with, one box per note up the neck.

Box 1fr 1
Box 2fr 4
Box 3fr 6
Box 4fr 9
Box 5fr 11

Notes and intervals

1EbE♭Root
2FFMajor 2nd
3AbA♭Perfect 4th
4BbB♭Perfect 5th
5DbD♭Minor 7th
StepsW 1½ W 1½ W
Semitones2-3-2-3-2
Degrees1 2 4 5 7

Shapes

Chromatic

CC♯D♭DD♯E♭EFF♯G♭GG♯A♭AA♯B♭B

Circle of Fifths

CGDAEBF♯G♭C♯D♭G♯A♭D♯E♭A♯B♭F

Related scales

Suspended Pentatonic in other keys

Modes

The same notes, starting on a different note.

Embed this scale

Paste the snippet into a lesson page, a blog or a forum post. The card links back here.

Eb Suspended Pentatonic scale on guitar shown as colored note dots
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