The seventh mode of the major scale: a minor scale with a flattened second and a flattened fifth. It is the only mode whose tonic triad is diminished, which is why it is rarely used as a key centre.
Named 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7. Its tonic triad is diminished; it is the natural scale over a half-diminished chord.
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
C#
0
Perfect unison
tonic
b2
D
1
Minor second
b3
E
3
Minor third
4
F#
5
Perfect fourth
b5
G
6
Tritone
b6
A
8
Minor sixth
b7
B
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 C# 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 0–4
Root on the 2nd string B3 at fret 2. 18 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 scaleD major contains the same seven notes, with the tonic on a different degree
Mode/KeyD ioniansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyE doriansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyF# phrygiansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyG lydiansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyA mixolydiansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyB aeoliansame parent scale, different tonic