C AlteredScale
Formula
C Altered on the chromatic circle
C Altered is the 7th mode of the Melodic minor family. Pick another note on the circle to open the scale that starts there.
C 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 C 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 C Altered fits
Over an altered dominant 7 (♭9, ♯9, ♯11, ♭13) resolving to the tonic in jazz: the V7alt of a ii–V–I.
C 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:
- C Altered
- D♭ Melodic minor
- E♭ Dorian ♭2
- F♭ Lydian augmented
- G♭ Lydian dominant
- A♭ Mixolydian ♭6
- B♭ Locrian ♮2
Move one note by a half step and you get a different scale:
Altered scale in every key
C Altered scale questions
What notes are in the C Altered scale?
C D♭ E♭ F♭ G♭ A♭ B♭. As degrees from the root: 1 ♭2 ♭3 ♭4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7.
What is the C 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 C Altered scale on guitar?
This page draws every note of C 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 C shape to the A shape to the G shape to the E shape to the D shape.
What chords are in the C Altered scale?
Cm7♭5 (i°), D♭m(maj7) (♭ii), E♭m7 (♭iii), F♭maj7♯5 (♭IV+), G♭7 (♭V), A♭7 (♭VI), B♭m7♭5 (♭vii°).
When is the C 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.