Scales › Dorian ♭2 (Phrygian ♮6)

Dorian ♭2 (Phrygian ♮6) scale

Dorian with a soft b9

What color?

Dorian with a b9: an open minor color (major thirteenth) tinted with a slightly Eastern lowered second. With no avoid note, useful on a minor where you want to slip in a b9 tension without tipping over into Phrygian.

Origin & history

The second mode of the melodic minor. A dark minor color with a minor second, used mostly as a tool of jazz harmony.

Which chords to play it on?

Outside the functional consensus: this is an exploration color. Lay it over a vamp or a held chord to tint your improvisation with an unexpected flavor, rather than inside a cadence.

Sibling modes

The Dorian ♭2 (Phrygian ♮6) scale is one of the modes of the melodic minor : it shares exactly the same notes as the modes below, but built on a different degree of the parent scale (melodic minor).

Try it in a real chart

Paste a chord chart into the tool: Pentania tells you, chord by chord, when this scale fits — and what other colors are open to you. Open the tool →