Altered scale

Common card · No. 383988

In jazz, the altered scale, altered dominant scale, or super-Locrian scale (Locrian ♭4 scale) is a seven-note scale that is a dominant scale where all non-essential tones have been altered. The triad formed from the root of the altered scale creates a diminished triad, but due to the inclusion of a diminished 11th, the scale comprises the three irreducibly essential tones that define a dominant seventh chord, which are root, major third, and minor seventh and that all other chord tones have been altered. These are: the fifth is altered to a ♭5 the ninth is altered to a ♭9 the eleventh is altered to a ♭11 (equivalent to a major third) the thirteenth is altered to a ♭13 (equivalent to a ♯5) and the minor third can be considered a ♯9 The altered forms of some of the non-essential tones coincide (augmented eleventh with diminished fifth and augmented fifth with minor thirteenth) meaning those scale degrees are enharmonically identical and have multiple potential spellings. The natural forms...

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