Scales › Hungarian major

Hungarian major scale

gypsy dominant, #9 + #11

What color?

A scale with augmented fourth and #9 (R #9 3 #11 5 13 b7): a very colorful dominant, gypsy and bright, for a dominant in search of exoticism.

Origin & history

A scale with an augmented second evoking the music of Central Europe; Béla Bartók incorporated it into his language from Hungarian and Romanian folk music.

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.

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 →