A Altered Scale

What is the A Altered Scale?

The altered scale (also called Super Locrian) is the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale, and it lives up to its name — every possible tension is altered (♭9, #9, ♭5/#11, #5/♭13). It's the ultimate dominant tension scale in jazz, used over V7 chords when you want maximum harmonic tension before resolving. Here's how the A Altered Scale lays out on the fretboard.

Notes and Positions

All altered tensions over V7; 7th mode of melodic minor. On bass, the fretboard view helps you visualize where the important tones sit for building lines across positions. Use a finger-per-fret approach first, then add shifts only when the line needs a wider range. In the key of A, the notes are: A, Bb, B#, C#, D#, F, G.

How to Use It

You'll often hear it in Jazz, Fusion, and Altered dominant chords. A good way to internalize the sound is to sing the root, then sing a few scale degrees before you play them.

Start with the root on beat 1, add the 5th on beat 3, then work the other scale tones in as passing notes. Use the interactive fretboard above to spot repeats of the same note on different strings and frets.