Scales › ritsu / yo (Japanese pentatonic)

ritsu / yo (Japanese pentatonic) scale

Japanese yo, bright with no half step

What color?

Mode 4 of the major pentatonic (R 9 11 5 13), the Japanese "yo" scale with no half step: bright, open, joyful. The luminous side of the Asian pentatonics.

Origin & history

The Japanese "yo" (or ritsu) scale: a pentatonic without half steps, bright, used in folk music and court music (gagaku). It stands in contrast to the darker "in" scale.

Which chords to play it on?

Outside the functional consensus: this is an exploration color. Lay it over a vamp or a held chord to tint your improvisation with an unexpected flavor, rather than inside a cadence.

Try it in a real chart

Paste a chord chart into the tool: Pentania tells you, chord by chord, when this scale fits — and what other colors are open to you. Open the tool →