Mixolydian b2

The dominant with a flat ninth and a natural thirteenth

Thirds from the root give C E G B♭, an ordinary dominant seventh, and the scale colours it with D♭ as the flat ninth and A as the natural thirteenth. That combination is the whole point: most scales that supply a flat ninth also flatten the thirteenth, and this one does not.

The natural sixth also means the scale keeps a perfect fifth and a natural fourth, so it is far less altered than its name suggests. Over a C7♭9 with a natural 13 in the voicing, it is the scale that fits without argument.

One note from Phrygian dominant

Phrygian dominant, the fifth mode of harmonic minor, is 1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7 and is by far the better known of the two. Mixolydian b2 differs from it in the sixth alone: natural here, flat there.

The difference is easy to hear and easy to misuse. Phrygian dominant carries the sound of Spanish and Middle Eastern music because the flat sixth sits a semitone above the fifth; replace it with a natural sixth and that colour disappears entirely, leaving a brighter altered dominant. If you reached this page looking for the Spanish sound, the scale you want is Phrygian dominant.

Where the augmented second falls

In this mode the augmented second of the harmonic major family sits between the flat second and the third: D♭ up to E is three semitones. It is the widest step and it comes early, which gives the scale its distinctive opening gesture.

Lines that use the scale well tend to place that leap deliberately rather than run through it. Starting a phrase on the flat ninth and leaping to the third states the harmony in two notes, which is more than a run up the whole scale achieves.

Practical use

Dominant chords resolving to a major tonic are the natural home. In a major ii–V–I where the V carries a flat ninth, Mixolydian b2 covers the V without darkening the resolution, which a flat sixth would.

On guitar the shape is Mixolydian with one fret moved, and the same trick applies here as elsewhere in this family: learn the parent harmonic major scale once and start it from its fifth degree. That is less to memorise than seven separate fingerings.

Frequently asked questions