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What is the most common fingering for the pentatonic scale? Minor and major. All of them. I don't know about standards; there are lots of different fingerings you could use. I would like to know what is considered right.

I've experimented and got a consistent fingering for C, G, F# and F. I prefer this fingering. F# major pentatonic:

1-2-1, 3-4

Other people prefer for F#:

1-2-3, 1-2

Aaron
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r4.
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  • Related http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/3092/fingering-for-black-keys-scale – r4. Apr 06 '16 at 10:50
  • My sourse (possibly bad). http://www.pianoscales.org/pentatonic.html – r4. Apr 06 '16 at 10:51
  • Fingering for Chopins black keys etude. http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/12255/ – r4. Apr 06 '16 at 10:58
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    Googling brought up many, many answers. – Tim Apr 06 '16 at 11:16
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    For most of them you're not going to find a fingering that is comfortable beyond a single octave, thanks to the larger intervals being frequent enough that you'll be twisting your wrist like crazy trying to tuck and stretch your fingers. IMO there's no "right" fingering, just ones that somewhat work for you and are less wrong. –  Apr 06 '16 at 15:24
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    As an example of that, take the case of Bill Evans who apparently was notorious for avoyding thumb crossings (http://www.keyboardmag.com/lessons/1251/the-bill-evans-re-fingering-school/28151) – José David Apr 06 '16 at 17:57
  • If you want to make a list of fingerings please do so in an answer rather than in the question. –  Apr 06 '16 at 20:36

1 Answers1

4

Single octave

Starting with the obvious ...

For a simple five-note traversal of either a major or minor pentatonic, the fingerings

  • RH: 1-2-3-4-5
  • LH: 5-4-3-2-1

are sufficient.

Multiple octaves, same fingering for every scale

For multiple octaves, I find it most comfortable to use fingers 1 and 2 for the "skips" in the scales. Using this approach, every major pentatonic can be played

  • RH: 2-3-1-2-1
  • LH: 1-3-2-1-2

Similarly, every minor pentatonic can be played

  • RH: 1-2-3-1-2
  • LH: 2-1-3-2-1

Multiple octaves, "best" (IMO) fingering for each scale

  • RH: always a variant (rotation) of 1-2-3-1-3 or 1-2-3-1-2 (the final 3 or 2 is interchangeable according to personal preference).
  • LH: always a variant (rotation) of 3-2-1-3-1 or 3-2-1-2-1 (the final 3 or 2 is interchangeable according to personal preference).
scale RH LH
C 2-3-1-2-1 1-3-2-1-3
Cm 1-3-1-2-3 1-3-2-1-3
C# / Db 2-3-1-2-1 3-2-1-2-1
C#m / Dbm 3-1-2-3-1 3-1-3-2-1
D 2-1-2-3-1 3-1-3-2-1
Dm 1-2-3-1-3 3-1-3-2-1
D# / Eb 3-1-2-3-1 3-2-1-3-1
D#m / Ebm 1-2-3-1-2 (or 1-2-3-1-2-3 continuously) 1-3-2-1-3 (or 3-2-1-3-2-1-...)
E 1-2-3-1-3 1-3-2-1-3
Em 1-2-3-1-3 3-1-3-2-1
F 2-3-1-2-1 1-3-2-1-3
Fm 1-2-3-1-2 1-3-2-1-3
F# / Gb 2-3-1-3-1 (or 1-2-3-1-2-3-...) 3-2-1-3-1 (or 3-2-1-3-2-1-...)
F#m / Gbm 3-1-2-3-1 3-1-3-2-1
G 2-3-1-2-1 3-2-1-2-1
Gm 1-3-1-2-3 1-3-2-1-2 or 1-3-1-3-2
G# / Ab 2-3-1-3-1 3-2-1-2-1
G#m / Abm 1-2-3-1-2 3-1-3-2-1
A 1-2-3-1-3 2-1-3-1-3
Am 1-2-3-1-3 3-1-3-2-1
A# / Bb 3-1-2-3-1 3-2-1-2-1
A#m / Bbm 1-3-1-2-3 3-1-3-2-1
B 1-2-3-1-3 1-3-2-1-3
Bm 1-3-1-2-3 3-1-3-2-1
Aaron
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