Ionian Augmented #2

Major with two notes moved

Only two degrees separate this scale from ordinary C major: the second goes up to D♯ and the fifth up to G♯. The fourth, sixth and seventh stay where the major scale puts them, which makes it one of the more approachable modes of a famously awkward family.

Thirds from the root give C E G♯ B — a major seventh with an augmented fifth — and the scale adds a sharp ninth, a natural eleventh and a natural thirteenth. The augmented fifth is a chord tone here, not a passing colour, and that is what the scale exists to describe.

One note from Lydian augmented ♯2

Lydian augmented ♯2, the sixth mode of harmonic major, is 1 ♯2 3 ♯4 ♯5 6 7. The two scales are identical except for the fourth: raised there, natural here. Both come from a family with an augmented fifth in the tonic chord, and both are the sixth mode of their parent — the parallel is exact and so is the confusion.

Choose by the eleventh. If the chord or the melody wants a sharp eleventh over the major seventh, the harmonic major mode fits; if the natural fourth is present, this one does. Playing a natural fourth over a chord that wanted the raised one is the more audible of the two mistakes.

Where the augmented seconds fall

The parent scale contributes two three-semitone steps and here they sit at the bottom and in the middle: C to D♯, and F to G♯. Between them the scale runs D♯ E F, three consecutive semitones by sound, which is unusual enough to identify the mode without counting.

That chromatic run is the practical handle. Approaching the third from below through the raised second, or the augmented fifth from below through the fourth, uses the scale's own material as an enclosure and sounds intentional rather than exotic.

Where it comes from

The double harmonic scale is 1 ♭2 3 4 5 ♭6 7 — the major scale with the second and sixth flattened — and it is listed elsewhere under the names Byzantine, Arabic and Gypsy major. Reading those seven notes from the sixth degree and transposing to C gives this mode.

Of the family's seven modes, two are widely known: the parent itself and Hungarian minor, its fourth mode, which English-speaking players usually find under the name double harmonic minor. The remaining five, this one among them, are chord-scales rather than keys.

Frequently asked questions