Japanese Scale Piano Reference With Notes & Intervals

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    🎹 The Japanese scale, also known as In Sen scale, is a 5-note pentatonic scale adapted from Shamisen music, similarly to the Hirajoshi scale.

    Here you'll find an interactive piano reference for the Japanese scale with notes on the piano keyboard, intervals and scale formula.

    Japanese Scale Intervals

    The intervals of the Japanese scale are:

      Japanese Scale Formula

      The formula for the Japanese scale is: h, 4 steps, W, (W+h), W

      ◈◈◈

      W: Whole step, h: Half step (semitone)

      Japanese Scales Note Chart

      C
      C♯
      D
      D♯
      E
      F
      F♯
      G
      G♯
      A
      A♯
      B

      And now here are interactive piano keyboard layouts, one for each key, where you can hear the Japanese scales being played up and down:

      C Japanese Scale

      notes:

      C♯ Japanese Scale

      notes:

      D Japanese Scale

      notes:

      D♯ Japanese Scale

      notes:

      E Japanese Scale

      notes:

      F Japanese Scale

      notes:

      F♯ Japanese Scale

      notes:

      G Japanese Scale

      notes:

      G♯ Japanese Scale

      notes:

      A Japanese Scale

      notes:

      A♯ Japanese Scale

      notes:

      B Japanese Scale

      notes:

      Japanese Scale Chords

      Here's a list of chord types that fit the Japanese scale:

        References to major & minor scales:

        C majorC♯ majorD♭ majorD majorE♭ majorE majorF majorF♯ majorG♭ majorG majorA♭ majorA majorB♭ majorB majorC♭ major

        C minor C♯ minor D♭ minorD minorD♯ minorE♭ minorE minorF minorF♯ minorG minorG♯ minorA♭ minorA minorA♯ minorB♭ minorB minor

        Piano Samples

        The piano samples used for this Japanese scale reference are from “Salamander Grand Piano V3” by Alexander Holm, licensed under CC BY 3.0.

        C C♯ D D♯ E F F♯ G G♯ A A♯ B
        Circle of fifths with major and minor keys