SCALE REFERENCE

A Altered

A – B♭ – C – D♭ – E♭ – F – G1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7

Every tension a dominant chord can take — b9, #9, b5 and #5. The go-to scale over an altered dominant resolving to a minor chord. The 7th mode of melodic minor.

Notes & degrees
A1B♭b2Cb3D♭b4E♭b5Fb6Gb7
NotesA, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G
StepsH – W – H – W – W – W – W (W = whole, H = half)
Also calledSuper Locrian, Diminished Whole Tone
Piano
ACFGB♭D♭E♭
Guitar & ukulele — every position (frets 0–12)
357912eFGAB♭CD♭E♭BCD♭E♭FGAB♭GGAB♭CD♭E♭FGDE♭FGAB♭CD♭AAB♭CD♭E♭FGAEFGAB♭CD♭E♭

Root notes are red. The full map of the scale on the guitar neck; the common box patterns are groups of these notes.

357912AAB♭CD♭E♭FGAEFGAB♭CD♭E♭CCD♭E♭FGAB♭CGGAB♭CD♭E♭FG

The same scale on a ukulele in standard G–C–E–A tuning.

Chords in the key
DegreeTriad7th chord
i°AdimAm7♭5
♭iiB♭mB♭m(maj7)
♭iiiCmCm7
♭IV+D♭augD♭maj7♯5
♭VE♭E♭7
♭VIFF7
♭vii°GdimGm7♭5

These are the chords built by stacking scale notes in thirds. Click through for each chord's own diagrams:

i°Adim♭iiB♭m♭iiiCm♭IV+D♭aug♭VE♭♭VIF♭vii°Gdim
Other scales on A

Core scales & modes

A MajorA Natural MinorA Harmonic MinorA Melodic MinorA DorianA PhrygianA LydianA MixolydianA Locrian

Pentatonic & blues

A Major PentatonicA Minor PentatonicA BluesA Major Blues

Jazz & altered

A Harmonic MajorA Phrygian DominantA Lydian DominantA Bebop Dominant

Symmetric

A Whole ToneA Diminished (Whole–Half)A Diminished (Half–Whole)A Augmented Scale

World & exotic

A Hungarian MinorA Double Harmonic MajorA Neapolitan Minor
Altered on another root
CC♯DD♯EFF♯GG♯AA♯B
Keep exploring

See the diatonic chords with audio in the Scale & Chord Finder, find where a key sits among the others on the Circle of Fifths, or start the free Cloud Atelier music guides.