Altered Dominant nat2

The altered scale with its ninth left alone

The altered scale is C D♭ E♭ F♭ G♭ A♭ B♭, the standard choice over a dominant that has to resolve. Raising its flat second back to a natural D produces this mode and changes nothing else, which is precisely what the name records.

One degree decides the whole character. The altered scale flattens every available tension without exception; here the ninth escapes, so the chord keeps one consonant colour among six altered ones and stops sounding uniformly tense.

A natural ninth and a sharp ninth in the same scale

Both D and E♭ are present, and against a C7 they read as the natural ninth and the sharp ninth at once. Scales rarely offer that pair, because most either flatten the ninth or raise it rather than keeping both versions available.

In practice the two behave differently. The D sits comfortably and can be held; the E♭ grinds against the major third a half step above it and works as an approach note. Having both means a line can move from consonance to bite without leaving the mode.

The chord underneath

Reading the spelling as sound, the flat fourth is the major third and the chord is C E G♭ B♭ — a dominant seventh with a flattened fifth. The flat sixth adds an augmented fifth above it, so both fifths are available and the chord can be voiced either way.

That doubling is what makes the mode usable over most altered dominant symbols. Whether the chart says 7♭5, 7♯5 or 7alt, the notes are here; what is missing, and missing on purpose, is the flat ninth.

The whole tone scale plus the sharp ninth

Removing E♭ leaves C D E G♭ A♭ B♭ — six pitches a whole step apart, the whole tone scale. Every mode of the Neapolitan major family is that scale with one note added, and here the added note is the sharp ninth.

Knowing which note is the extra one tells a player where the mode's weight lies. The whole tone material supplies the ambiguity; the E♭ is the only degree that breaks the pattern, so it is the note that makes a phrase sound like this mode rather than like a whole tone run.

Why searching the name is unhelpful

Typing this name returns the altered scale first in every language checked, and the remaining suggestions are autocomplete debris — the fragment nat2 is regularly completed into a year, giving phrases like nat2022 and nat2023 that have nothing to do with music.

The useful search is the neighbour's name plus the word natural. Most players meet this scale as an adjustment to the altered scale rather than as an object with a name of its own, and that is a fair description of how it is used.

Frequently asked questions