Scales for drone practice
Hold a drone, pick a scale, and learn it as a chain of one-note edits from a scale you already know. Mark the scales you know and the paths re-route through them.
The brightness ladder
The seven modes, brightest to darkest - one note flattens at every step. Walk it over a drone and hear the light change.
Modes of the major scale
Major
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Home base. Bright, settled, the reference point for everything else.
Dorian
1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7
Hopeful minor - the natural 6 lifts it. Celtic tunes, Miles Davis, So What.
Phrygian
1 ♭2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7
Dark and Spanish. The b2 semitone above the drone is the whole story.
Lydian
1 2 3 ♯4 5 6 7
Floaty, dreamy, film-score major. The #4 never resolves and never needs to.
Mixolydian
1 2 3 4 5 6 ♭7
Folky, bluesy major. Most folk and rock that feels major but never plays a leading tone.
Natural Minor
1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7
Home base for the dark side. Sad, grounded, familiar.
Locrian
1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7
Unstable by design - even the fifth is flattened. More a colour to visit than a home.
Harmonic minor & its modes
Harmonic Minor
1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 7
Classical drama. The gap between b6 and the raised 7 is instantly recognisable.
Locrian ♮6
1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭5 6 ♭7
Locrian with one ray of light - the natural 6. Second mode of harmonic minor.
Ionian ♯5
1 2 3 4 ♯5 6 7
Major with an augmented lift in the middle. Third mode of harmonic minor.
Dorian ♯4
1 2 ♭3 ♯4 5 6 ♭7
Klezmer and Romanian fiddle music. Dorian with a raised 4 pushing at the fifth.
Phrygian Dominant
1 ♭2 3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7
Flamenco, klezmer, Middle Eastern maqam. Phrygian darkness with a major third blazing in it.
Lydian ♯2
1 ♯2 3 ♯4 5 6 7
Lydian with an extra exotic leap at the bottom. Sixth mode of harmonic minor.
Ultralocrian
1 ♭2 ♭3 ♭4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭♭7
Everything flattened, twice in one place. Seventh mode of harmonic minor - pure vertigo.
Melodic minor & its modes
Melodic Minor
1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 7
The smooth minor - major scale with a flat 3. Jazz treats it as home.
Dorian ♭2
1 ♭2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7
Phrygian dark at the bottom, Dorian bright at the top. Second mode of melodic minor.
Lydian Augmented
1 2 3 ♯4 ♯5 6 7
Lydian pushed further skyward with a raised 5. Third mode of melodic minor.
Lydian Dominant
1 2 3 ♯4 5 6 ♭7
The Simpsons theme. Playful, cocky major - Lydian sparkle over a bluesy b7.
Mixolydian ♭6
1 2 3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7
Major gone nostalgic - the top half collapses into minor. Faded-photograph sound.
Locrian ♮2
1 2 ♭3 4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7
Locrian made usable - the natural 2 softens the landing. Jazz scale for m7b5 chords.
Altered Scale
1 ♭2 ♭3 ♭4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7
Every tension at once. Jazz players use it to set a dominant chord on fire.
Double harmonic & its modes
Double Harmonic Major
1 ♭2 3 4 5 ♭6 7
Maximum exotic - two augmented-second gaps. Misirlou. Phrygian dominant with a raised 7.
Lydian ♯2 ♯6
1 ♯2 3 ♯4 5 ♯6 7
Lydian stretched to breaking. Second mode of double harmonic.
Ultraphrygian
1 ♭2 ♭3 ♭4 5 ♭6 ♭♭7
Phrygian sinking even lower. Third mode of double harmonic.
Hungarian Minor
1 2 ♭3 ♯4 5 ♭6 7
Harmonic minor with a raised 4 - two exotic gaps. Eastern European fire. Fourth mode of double harmonic.
Oriental
1 ♭2 3 4 ♭5 6 ♭7
Phrygian dominant with the floor tilted - flat 5, natural 6. Fifth mode of double harmonic.
Ionian ♯2 ♯5
1 ♯2 3 4 ♯5 6 7
Major warped at both ends. Sixth mode of double harmonic.
Harmonic major & its modes
Harmonic Major
1 2 3 4 5 ♭6 7
Major with one bittersweet note - the b6. Sunshine with a shadow moving through it.
Dorian ♭5
1 2 ♭3 4 ♭5 6 ♭7
Dorian with the floor dropped out. Second mode of harmonic major.
Phrygian ♭4
1 ♭2 ♭3 ♭4 5 ♭6 ♭7
Phrygian folding in on itself. Third mode of harmonic major.
Lydian ♭3
1 2 ♭3 ♯4 5 6 7
Hungarian minor with the sweetness restored - natural 6. Fourth mode of harmonic major.
Mixolydian ♭2
1 ♭2 3 4 5 6 ♭7
Phrygian dominant with a friendly natural 6. Fifth mode of harmonic major.
Lydian Augmented ♯2
1 ♯2 3 ♯4 ♯5 6 7
Everything raised that can be. Sixth mode of harmonic major.
Locrian 𝄫7
1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭♭7
Locrian with the 7 flattened twice - a diminished 7th chord stretched into a scale.
Neapolitan scales
Exotic scales
Hungarian Major
1 ♯2 3 ♯4 5 6 ♭7
Lydian dominant with a wild #2 leap. Bartók country.
Leading Whole Tone
1 2 3 ♯4 ♯5 ♯6 7
The whole tone dream with a leading tone pulling it home at the last moment.
Enigmatic
1 ♭2 3 ♯4 ♯5 ♯6 7
Verdi's puzzle scale - a b2 followed by whole tones stacked to the ceiling.
Persian
1 ♭2 3 4 ♭5 ♭6 7
Double harmonic with a flattened 5 - even more tension in the middle.
Prometheus
1 2 3 ♯4 6 ♭7
Scriabin's mystic chord as a scale. Whole-tone shimmer with one warm 6.
Pentatonic scales
Major Pentatonic
1 2 3 5 6
Can't-go-wrong bright. Folk, country, gospel - the major scale with the friction removed.
Minor Pentatonic
1 ♭3 4 5 ♭7
Can't-go-wrong dark. The backbone of blues and rock lead playing.
Egyptian
1 2 4 5 ♭7
Neither major nor minor - no third at all. Wide open, ancient-sounding.
Yo
1 2 4 5 6
Japanese folk brightness - open and songlike, no third, no tension.
Hirajoshi
1 2 ♭3 5 ♭6
Japanese koto tuning. Minor with two semitone sighs - instantly evocative.
In-sen
1 ♭2 4 5 ♭7
Sparse and shadowed - the b2 against the drone does all the talking.
Iwato
1 ♭2 4 ♭5 ♭7
The darkest of the Japanese pentatonics - b2 and b5 both pulling downward.
Blues scales
Symmetric scales
Whole Tone
1 2 3 ♯4 ♯5 ♭7
Six equal steps - no gravity, no home. Dream sequences and floating.
Diminished (Whole-Half)
1 2 ♭3 4 ♭5 ♭6 6 7
Alternating whole and half steps. Spooky, symmetrical, endlessly sequenced.
Diminished (Half-Whole)
1 ♭2 ♭3 3 ♯4 5 6 ♭7
The dominant version - jazz players put it over 7b9 chords.
Augmented
1 ♯2 3 5 ♭6 7
Two augmented triads interlocked. Repeats every major third - Coltrane liked it.
Bebop scales
Bebop Dominant
1 2 3 4 5 6 ♭7 7
Mixolydian plus a passing natural 7 so eighth-note lines land chord tones on the beat.
Bebop Major
1 2 3 4 5 ♭6 6 7
Major plus a passing b6. Smooth scalar lines over major 6 chords.
Bebop Dorian
1 2 ♭3 3 4 5 6 ♭7
Dorian with a passing major 3. Minor lines that wink at major.
Bebop Melodic Minor
1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 6 7
Melodic minor plus a passing b6 for even eighth-note lines.