Looking to add some distinctive colour and flavour to your music? Exotic Scales might just be the answer!
This particular blog post references 11 scales you’ll find from around the world and how to implement them into your practice routine. Ready? Let’s go!
Arabian Guitar Scale
An octatonic minor scale, meaning it has 8 individual notes as oppose to the usual 7 found in most guitar scales, this particular scale is the same as the diminished scale.
Formula
1 2 b3 4 #4 #5 6 7
Byzantine Guitar Scale
A major scale with a b2 and a b6, you may also find this scale referred to as the Maqam Hijaz scale but also the double harmonic scale.
Formula
1 b2 3 4 5 b6 7
Egyptian Pentatonic Scale
Egyptian music uses a wide variety of scales, including Dorian. Here, the Egyptian Pentatonic Scale is the 5th mode of the minor pentatonic scale.
Formula
1 2 4 5 b7
Hijaz Scale
A dominant scale originating in Saudi Arabia and also known as the Aljihaz scale, you may also come across this named as the Spanish gypsy scale, Jewish scale or the Phrygian dominant scale (if you were a jazz player).
The 5th Inversion of the harmonic minor scale, Phrygian dominant is commonly used in jazz, played over dominant chords that resolve to a minor chord.
Formula
1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7
Hungarian Gypsy Minor Scale
Also known as the double harmonic minor scale or Gypsy minor scale, this is a type of “combined” musical scale. The same as a double harmonic minor scale except there is a raised fourth degree that creates an augmented second interval.
Formula
1 2 b3 #4 5 b6 7
Indian Guitar Scale
Also known as the Asavari Scale or raga Asavari, this is more akin to something between a scale and a composition. Like a framework that enables musicians to develop improvisational techniques as well as composition. Whilst known as a scale, a raga utilises a specific tonal movement as well as intonation and duration. The main thing we need to know from a music theory perspective is that this scale is different whether ascending or descending.
Formula Ascending
1 b2 4 5 b6
Formula Descending
1 b7 b6 5 4 b3 b2
Japanese and Hirajoshi Scale
The Japanese scale is a pentatonic scale, but it’s lacking a third. This removes any major or minor tonality making it kind of a neutral scale.
Formula
1 2 4 5 b6
The Hirajoshi scale on the other hand is a minor pentatonic scale. You may find that this is regularly used in rock and jazz guitar playing.
Formula
1 2 b3 5 b6
Oriental Scale
This is a dominant scale featuring a flat 2nd and flat 5th degree and is the fifth mode of the double harmonic minor.
Formula
1 b2 3 4 b5 6 b7
Persian Scale
A major scale featuring a b2, b5 and a b6, this one is closely related to Phrygian Dominant or the Locrian Mode with a major third and major seventh degree.
Formula
1 b2 3 4 b5 b6 7
Romanian Scale
The minor scale with a #4, it’s another mode of the harmonic minor scale, the fourth mode in fact. You may also come across it as the Ukrainian Dorian Scale, Altered Dorian Scale or Miseberach Scale.
Formula
1 2 b3 #4 5 6 #7
Practicing Exotic Scales
A useful way to practice these scales is by using simple drone backing tracks. Whether a guitar centric one, like this A Major backing track, or more ambient like this one, you’ll find you can apply any of the aforementioned scales in the given key of the track. With only a minute amount of notes in the drone, you can freely experiment with any of the above scale shapes.
Using a drone piece in this way, can help you to see the relationship between the notes and the chord and how harmony is created. If you’re not quite sure where to start, don’t forget you can bug me for guitar lessons here!