SCALE REFERENCE

C Altered

C – D♭ – E♭ – F♭ – G♭ – A♭ – B♭1 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
C1D♭b2E♭b3F♭b4G♭b5A♭b6B♭b7
NotesC, Db, Eb, Fb, Gb, Ab, Bb
StepsH – W – H – W – W – W – W (W = whole, H = half)
Also calledSuper Locrian, Diminished Whole Tone
Piano
CF♭D♭E♭G♭A♭B♭
Guitar & ukulele — every position (frets 0–12)
357912eF♭G♭A♭B♭CD♭E♭F♭BCD♭E♭F♭G♭A♭B♭GA♭B♭CD♭E♭F♭G♭DE♭F♭G♭A♭B♭CD♭AB♭CD♭E♭F♭G♭A♭EF♭G♭A♭B♭CD♭E♭F♭

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

357912AB♭CD♭E♭F♭G♭A♭EF♭G♭A♭B♭CD♭E♭F♭CCD♭E♭F♭G♭A♭B♭CGA♭B♭CD♭E♭F♭G♭

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

Chords in the key
DegreeTriad7th chord
i°CdimCm7♭5
♭iiD♭mD♭m(maj7)
♭iiiE♭mE♭m7
♭IV+F♭augF♭maj7♯5
♭VG♭G♭7
♭VIA♭A♭7
♭vii°B♭dimB♭m7♭5

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

i°Cdim♭iiD♭m♭iiiE♭m♭IV+F♭aug♭VG♭♭VIA♭♭vii°B♭dim
Other scales on C

Core scales & modes

C MajorC Natural MinorC Harmonic MinorC Melodic MinorC DorianC PhrygianC LydianC MixolydianC Locrian

Pentatonic & blues

C Major PentatonicC Minor PentatonicC BluesC Major Blues

Jazz & altered

C Harmonic MajorC Phrygian DominantC Lydian DominantC Bebop Dominant

Symmetric

C Whole ToneC Diminished (Whole–Half)C Diminished (Half–Whole)C Augmented Scale

World & exotic

C Hungarian MinorC Double Harmonic MajorC 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.