Scales › Dorian ♭5

Dorian ♭5 scale

Dorian with diminished fifth

7 notes

RC 9D b3Eb 11F b5Gb 13A b7Bb

guide tones (3rd & 7th — the heart of the sound) avoid (strong clash)

C · D · Eb · F · Gb · A · Bb

Play in the key of

Dorian ♭5 on the guitar: the fretboard diagram

Here is the Dorian ♭5 scale laid out across the whole neck, from fret 0 to fret 15. The guide tones (3rd and 7th) are highlighted — they're what makes the scale's color sing. Use the key selector above to shift the shape along the neck and find the positions in your key.

E 11 b5 13 b7 R 9 b3 11 b5 B R 9 b3 11 b5 13 b7 R 9 G 13 b7 R 9 b3 11 b5 13 b7 D 9 b3 11 b5 13 b7 R 9 b3 11 A 13 b7 R 9 b3 11 b5 13 b7 R E 11 b5 13 b7 R 9 b3 11 b5 0123456789101112131415

What color?

Dorian whose fifth is diminished while keeping the major thirteenth: an unstable but colorful minor color, a more open half-diminished than Locrian. A rare mode drawn from harmonic major, with an unexpected angle on a m7b5.

Origin & history

The second mode of the harmonic major. A mode derived from modern modal theory, with no tradition of its own.

Which chords to play it on?

Outside the functional consensus: this is an exploration color. Lay it over a vamp or a held chord to tint your improvisation with an unexpected flavor, rather than inside a cadence.

Sibling modes

The Dorian ♭5 scale is one of the modes of the harmonic major : it shares exactly the same notes as the modes below, but built on a different degree of the parent scale (harmonic major (Ionian ♭6)).

harmonic major (Ionian ♭6) major with a bittersweet ♭6 Phrygian ♭4 Phrygian with lowered eleventh Lydian ♭3 (Lydian diminished) diminished minor Lydian Mixolydian ♭2 dominant with a colorful b9 Lydian augmented ♯2 exotic Lydian augmented ♯2 Locrian ♭♭7 diminished Locrian bb7

Try it in a real chart

Paste a chord chart into the tool: Pentania tells you, chord by chord, when this scale fits — and what other colors are open to you. Open the tool →