The third mode of the major scale: a minor scale with a flattened second. The semitone between the tonic and the second degree is the scale's defining feature.
Named 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. Its tonic triad is minor and the chord on bII is major.
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
b2
Bbb
1
Minor second
b3
Cb
3
Minor third
4
Db
5
Perfect fourth
5
Eb
7
Perfect fifth
b6
Fb
8
Minor 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. 12 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.
Related keys and modes
ParentParent major scaleE major contains the same seven notes, with the tonic on a different degree
Mode/KeyE ioniansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyF# doriansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyA lydiansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyB mixolydiansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyC# aeoliansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyEb locriansame parent scale, different tonic