The fourth mode of the melodic minor scale: a major scale with a raised fourth and a flattened seventh. It is the pitch set of a dominant seventh chord with a raised fourth available.
1 = Ab
2 = Bb
3 = C
#4 = D
5 = Eb
6 = F
b7 = Gb
Root
Ab (also written G#)
Scale
Lydian dominant
Type
symmetric
Notes
Ab Bb C D Eb F Gb
Notes in the scale
7
Degree formula
1 2 3 #4 5 6 b7
Semitones from the root
0 2 4 6 7 9 10
Step pattern
W W W H W H W
Aliases
Lydian b7, Acoustic scale, Overtone scale
Key signature of this root
Ab major / F minor · Bb Eb Ab Db
Written use
Named 1 2 3 #4 5 6 b7. Played over a dominant seventh chord that does not resolve downwards by a fifth, such as the IV7 chord in a blues.
Notes and degrees
Each degree of the scale, its note name in this key, and its distance from the root in semitones.
Degree
Note
Semitones
Interval from the root
1
Ab
0
Perfect unison
tonic
2
Bb
2
Major second
3
C
4
Major third
#4
D
6
Tritone
5
Eb
7
Perfect fifth
6
F
9
Major sixth
b7
Gb
10
Minor seventh
Positions on the guitar
The five windows below are computed, not copied from a shape chart. The script locates the lowest
occurrence of Ab on each of the five upper strings within the first twelve frets and takes a
five-fret window centred on it. Because a scale repeats every twelve frets, these five windows cover
the whole neck; the same sequence returns an octave higher. The positions are numbered from the lowest
fret upwards, so position 1 is always the window nearest the nut and position 5 the window nearest the
twelfth fret.
Position 1 — frets 0–3
Root on the 3rd string G3 at fret 1. 13 notes of the scale inside this window.
Read the grid as a chord diagram: the top row is the first string. Degrees appear in the
notes and degrees table above; a filled cell is a note of the scale, and the shaded cell is the tonic.