Name this scale?

[JuliusGroove]

Have been doing some reading on chord subs and this scale was suggested:

C D# E F# G Ab B

The guy advised it was part of the harmonic minor scale but I couldn't find a mode with this interval formula? The closest I could find was the Lydian #2 but then flattening the 6th. Does this mode/scale have a specific name or would it just be Lydian #2 b6 on paper?

Thanks!

[CamdenRob]

Its nothing Diatonic, the gap between the 1st and 2nd step is a tone and a half... you get this interval on a harmonic minor though when you sharpen the 7th so maybe its based on that?

Also F#,G,Ab (G# as to not mix #s and bs) is three notes in a row... playing this scale on your own, you could probably come up with something that sounds OK but jamming this with others would be a disaster... clash city!

Edited December 9, 2013 by CamdenRob

[JuliusGroove]

Yeah I haven't had a chance to jam it with anyone yet but you can get some interesting sounds on your own..

The guy who gave the scale suggested using it over Am.. I've put the link below for any curious folk..

http://www.mutantbass.com/exotic-chord-substitution-for-an-a-minor-chord/

[CamdenRob]

It wouldn't work with Am... A natural minor is a white note scale A,B,C,D,E,F,G,A those sharps would clash with even a regular Am triad A,C,E.

Do whatever sounds good to you though that's the main thing

Bizarre scales are often fun when jamming stuff on your own but in a band situation you need stuff that conforms to a key signature so others can easily compose their bits. Otherwise its a bit of a freeforall and a poor bass player who can't stray too far from the root without a nasty discordant clang...

Edited December 9, 2013 by CamdenRob

[dlloyd]

It's an altered dominant of some sort. You're in bebop territory here.

Use it for soloing in a ii V i progression in Fm. It suggests C7b5#9 or C7#5#9.

[dlloyd]

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1386595483' post='2301882']
It's an altered dominant of some sort. You're in bebop territory here.

Use it for soloing in a ii V i progression in Fm. It suggests C7b5#9 or C7#5#9.
[/quote]

Actually... spoke before I should have... it's got a natural B. Forget the above.

[ambient]

I don't think it's an actual scale as such, more like something made up from the altered or super locrian. The notes of the C altered are C, Db, D sharp, E, Gb (F sharp), G sharp (A flat), Bb, C.

So it's sharing a few of them.

[JuliusGroove]

Sharing is caring..

[dlloyd]

What it is very similar to is the Augmented scale, which is constructed from two augmented triads placed a b3/#2 apart:

C E G#
Eb G B (or D# Fx Ax if you want to stick to different letters of each degree of the scale and don't mind double sharps)

C Eb E G G# B
(or C D# E Fx G# Ax)

Of course someone has added in the F#. I don't know if this is a recognised scale.

Where did you see this scale?

[SaxyBassist]

Doesn't resemble anything I've ever seen it before (I play a lot of jazz on sax), but notes 2 - 4 are from the super locrian scale.....

(Edited to make sense!)

Edited December 9, 2013 by SaxyBassist

[EliasMooseblaster]

If it were F natural, it'd be the Double Harmonic Minor/Major* of C.

(*My scale book calls it a double harmonic minor, but Wikipedia calls it a double harmonic major - but both sources contain the same notes, if memory serves!)

[Bilbo]

It's a C diminished with an added WRONG NOTE!!

[Steve Woodcock]

It's not a scale - the D#, F# and Ab are simply chromatic approach notes for the 3rd and 5th of Cmaj7:

D# leads in to E from a semi-tone below, F# leads in to G from a semi-tone below and Ab leads in to G from a semi-tone above.