Pentania — Explore the harmonies

Scales › harmonic major (Ionian ♭6)

harmonic major (Ionian ♭6) scale

major with a bittersweet ♭6

7 notes

guide tones (3rd & 7th — the heart of the sound) avoid (strong clash)

C · D · E · F · G · Ab · B

What color?

Ionian with b6: all the classical major (major 3 and 7) but a lowered sixth that casts a bittersweet shadow. A rare, refined color, perfect when you want a bright major tinted with a discreet melancholy.

Origin & history

The major scale with a lowered sixth: a major tinted with a minor-subdominant color. A scale theorized in the 19th century, more a coloring tool than a repertoire scale.

Which chords to play it on?

The jazz consensus (Aebersold) recommends it on:

major seventh chord

Sibling modes

The harmonic major (Ionian ♭6) scale is one of the modes of the harmonic major : it shares exactly the same notes as the modes below, but built on a different degree of the parent scale (harmonic major (Ionian ♭6)).

Dorian ♭5 Dorian with diminished fifth Phrygian ♭4 Phrygian with lowered eleventh Lydian ♭3 (Lydian diminished) diminished minor Lydian Mixolydian ♭2 dominant with a colorful b9 Lydian augmented ♯2 exotic Lydian augmented ♯2 Locrian ♭♭7 diminished Locrian bb7

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 →