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Scales › Ionian ♯5 (augmented major)

Ionian ♯5 (augmented major) scale

major with augmented fifth

7 notes

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

C · D · E · F · G# · A · B

What color?

Ionian with #5: the reference major with its fifth pulled upward, the sound of maj7#5, more diatonic than Lydian augmented. A color of surprise on a major, with the #5 often leading to the thirteenth.

Origin & history

The third mode of the harmonic minor (a major with an augmented fifth). A theoretical construction more than the object of a tradition, useful for coloring a maj7♯5 chord.

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

harmonic minor classical minor, augmented second Locrian ♮6 half-diminished with major thirteenth Dorian ♯4 (Romanian) Romanian Dorian ♯4 Phrygian dominant (Spanish) Spanish flamenco ♭9 Lydian ♯2 crystalline Lydian ♯2 super-Locrian ♭♭7 (ultralocrian) 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 →