My Guitar Notes

Bb mixolydian scale

The fifth mode of the major scale: a major scale with a flattened seventh. It supplies the pitch set for a dominant seventh chord and its extensions.

Root
Bb (also written A#)
Scale
Mixolydian
Type
mode, mode 5 of seven
Notes
Bb C D Eb F G Ab
Notes in the scale
7
Degree formula
1 2 3 4 5 6 b7
Semitones from the root
0 2 4 5 7 9 10
Step pattern
W W H W W H W
Parent major scale
Eb major
Key signature of this root
Bb major / G minor · Bb Eb
Written use
Named 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7. Its tonic triad is major and the chord on the flat seventh degree is major.

Notes and degrees

Each degree of the scale, its note name in this key, and its distance from the root in semitones.

DegreeNoteSemitonesInterval from the root
1Bb0Perfect unisontonic
2C2Major second
3D4Major third
4Eb5Perfect fourth
5F7Perfect fifth
6G9Major sixth
b7Ab10Minor seventh

Positions on the guitar

The five windows below are computed, not copied from a shape chart. The script locates the lowest occurrence of Bb 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

Root on the 5th string A2 at fret 1. 14 notes of the scale inside this window.

String0123
1st (highest) string E4FG
2nd string B3CD
3rd string G3GAbBb
4th string D3DEbF
5th string A2BbC
6th string E2FG

Position 2

Root on the 3rd string G3 at fret 3. 18 notes of the scale inside this window.

String12345
1st (highest) string E4FGAb
2nd string B3CDEb
3rd string G3AbBbC
4th string D3EbFG
5th string A2BbCD
6th string E2FGAb

Position 3

Root on the 6th string E2 at fret 6. 18 notes of the scale inside this window.

String45678
1st (highest) string E4AbBbC
2nd string B3EbFG
3rd string G3CDEb
4th string D3GAbBb
5th string A2DEbF
6th string E2AbBbC

Position 4

Root on the 4th string D3 at fret 8. 18 notes of the scale inside this window.

String678910
1st (highest) string E4BbCD
2nd string B3FGAb
3rd string G3DEbF
4th string D3AbBbC
5th string A2EbFG
6th string E2BbCD

Position 5

Root on the 2nd string B3 at fret 11. 18 notes of the scale inside this window.

String910111213
1st (highest) string E4DEbF
2nd string B3AbBbC
3rd string G3FGAb
4th string D3CDEb
5th string A2GAbBb
6th string E2DEbF

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

Related