B♭ AlteredScale
Formula
B♭ Altered on the chromatic circle
B♭ Altered is the 7th mode of the Melodic minor family. Pick another note on the circle to open the scale that starts there.
B♭ Altered across the fretboard
Every note of the scale up to the 16th fret, named by its degree. The root is a ring. Step through the five CAGED positions one at a time in the scale library.
Chords in B♭ Altered
Stack every other note of the scale from each degree and you get its chords. Open any of them in the chord library.
Where B♭ Altered fits
Over an altered dominant 7 (♭9, ♯9, ♯11, ♭13) resolving to the tonic in jazz: the V7alt of a ii–V–I.
B♭ Altered is mode 7 of the melodic minor family. The same notes played from each of its other degrees give the family's other modes:
- B♭ Altered
- C♭ Melodic minor
- D♭ Dorian ♭2
- E𝄫 Lydian augmented
- F♭ Lydian dominant
- G♭ Mixolydian ♭6
- A♭ Locrian ♮2
Move one note by a half step and you get a different scale:
Altered scale in every key
B♭ Altered scale questions
What notes are in the B♭ Altered scale?
B♭ C♭ D♭ E𝄫 F♭ G♭ A♭. As degrees from the root: 1 ♭2 ♭3 ♭4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7.
What is the B♭ Altered scale formula?
1 ♭2 ♭3 ♭4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7, or in steps between the notes, H W H W W W W (W is a whole step of two frets, H a half step of one fret, 1½ three frets).
How do you play the B♭ Altered scale on guitar?
This page draws every note of B♭ Altered up to the 16th fret, each named by its degree with the root as a ring. To learn it a few frets at a time, open it in the scale library and step through its five CAGED positions, from the A shape to the G shape to the E shape to the D shape to the C shape.
What chords are in the B♭ Altered scale?
B♭m7♭5 (i°), C♭m(maj7) (♭ii), D♭m7 (♭iii), E𝄫maj7♯5 (♭IV+), F♭7 (♭V), G♭7 (♭VI), A♭m7♭5 (♭vii°).
When is the B♭ Altered scale used?
Over an altered dominant 7 (♭9, ♯9, ♯11, ♭13) resolving to the tonic in jazz: the V7alt of a ii–V–I.