Scales › Oriental

Oriental scale

Oriental, double augmented second

7 notes

RC b9Db 3E 11F b5Gb 13A b7Bb

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

C · Db · E · F · Gb · A · Bb

Play in the key of

What color?

The Oriental mode: b9, 3, b5 and 13 with its augmented seconds, a dominant color with a marked Middle Eastern flavor. Drawn from the double harmonic, you use it boldly for an exotic tint on a major/dominant chord.

Origin & history

The fifth mode of the double harmonic. Its name tells its color: a Near Eastern hue, kin to the Arabic maqams.

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 Oriental scale is one of the modes of the double harmonic scale : it shares exactly the same notes as the modes below, but built on a different degree of the parent scale (double harmonic major (Byzantine)).

double harmonic major (Byzantine) Byzantine, two augmented seconds Lydian ♯2 ♯6 exotic Lydian ♯2 ♯6 ultraphrygian diminished Phrygian bb7 Hungarian minor Hungarian minor, double augmented second Ionian ♯2 ♯5 exotic major ♯2 ♯5 Locrian ♭♭3 ♭♭7 doubly diminished Locrian

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 →