Pentania — Explore the harmonies

Scales › Ionian ♯2 ♯5

Ionian ♯2 ♯5 scale

exotic major ♯2 ♯5

7 notes

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

C · D# · E · F · G# · A · B

What color?

Ionian loaded with #2 (#9) and #5: a major seventh with an augmented second and a fifth pulled upward. A rare mode from the double harmonic, exotic and tense, that opens an unexpected angle on a maj7#5.

Origin & history

The sixth mode of the double harmonic. A very tense theoretical mode, 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 Ionian ♯2 ♯5 scale is one of the modes of the double harmonic scale : it shares exactly the same notes as the modes below, but built on a different degree of the parent scale (double harmonic major (Byzantine)).

double harmonic major (Byzantine) Byzantine, two augmented seconds Lydian ♯2 ♯6 exotic Lydian ♯2 ♯6 ultraphrygian diminished Phrygian bb7 Hungarian minor Hungarian minor, double augmented second Oriental Oriental, double augmented second Locrian ♭♭3 ♭♭7 doubly diminished Locrian

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 →