Scales › Lydian ♭3 (Lydian diminished)

Lydian ♭3 (Lydian diminished) scale

diminished minor Lydian

7 notes

RC 9D b3Eb #11F# 5G 13A 7B

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

C · D · Eb · F# · G · A · B

Play in the key of

What color?

Lydian whose third is minor: b3 and #11 over a major seventh, hence a bright, floating minor-major. A rare, refined color for a minMaj7 you want to feel airy rather than tense.

Origin & history

The fourth mode of the harmonic major (a Lydian with a minor third, or "Lydian diminished"). A theoretical mode with an ambiguous color.

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 Lydian ♭3 (Lydian diminished) 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 Dorian ♭5 Dorian with diminished fifth Phrygian ♭4 Phrygian with lowered eleventh 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 →