Three More Weird-Ass Scales

The last Three Weird Ass Scales proved popular so here are three more to introduce some new sounds to your playing.

A quick restatement of the disclaimer:

– The “weird ass”ness of the scales depends entirely on your perspective.
– The examples are a lame pastiche rather than an authentic example of use.

Double Harmonic Minor – Hungarian Scale

How it Sounds


Hungarian Scale

In C

C – D – Eb – F# – G – Ab – B – C

In General

1 – 2 – b3 – #4 – 5 – b6 – 7

How to Play It

DoubleHarmonicMinor

An Example

HungarianExample


Hungarian Scale Example

Japanese In Scale

How it Sounds


Japanese In Scale

You Might Recognise it From: Sakura, Sakura

In C

C – Db – F – G – Ab – C

In General

1 – b2 – 4 – 5 – b6

How to Play It

InScale

An Example

JapaneseInScaleExample


In Scale Example

Dominant Bebop Scale

How it Sounds


Dominant Bebop Scale

In C

C – D – E – F – G – A – Bb – B – C

In General

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – b7 – 7

How to Play It

BebopDominant

An Example

BebopExample


Bebop Dominant Example

View Comments

11 Comments

  1. seba July 12th, 2013 1:53 am

    excelent!! very good! can you paraelisa in uke?
    send me please!

  2. Mike July 14th, 2013 6:46 pm

    Please could you tell me which brand / model uke are u playing in the Sakura Sakura vid? Very nice, lovely color too. Thanks. Mike

  3. Woodshed July 15th, 2013 6:50 am

    Mike: It’s an Ohana TK-35G.

  4. wastad July 17th, 2013 7:41 am

    thanks – did bach use a bebop scale? one of the b’s being called h and then he could musically spell his name?

  5. Woodshed July 17th, 2013 8:26 am

    wasted: Yep, Bach was a huge Dizzy Gillespie fan.

  6. Johnny July 18th, 2013 5:35 am

    Is there more to the Japanese example/what’s it from?

    I really enjoy playing it.

  7. mikeormsby July 18th, 2013 6:41 am

    Johhny, you read my mind. I’ve been playing the Japanese scale and Sakura tab every day since it appeared here. But I’m was wondering, are these the ONLY notes a trad-Japanese musician would use? Sure, the scale has a beautifully minimal Zen sound and makes me want to throw all my furniture away, live in a rock garden eating only sushi… but there must be more to it than this, tone-wise?

  8. mikeormsby July 18th, 2013 6:42 am

    Johnny, sorry for typo …

  9. Woodshed July 18th, 2013 6:43 am

    Johnny: That’s all their is, I’m afraid. I wrote it myself.

  10. Humble May 23rd, 2014 3:31 am

    Al — I have played around with other scales before and it is fun. Thanks for the reminder. These three examples are good on the baritone ukulele too. I’m going to share this post with my bari-ukin friends. I’ll need to UkeHunt down your other “weird-ass” scales.

    I also want to say thanks for the exceptional information that you’ve shared with us over the years.

  11. Woodshed May 23rd, 2014 8:50 am

    Humble: Thanks very much, Jeff! And thanks for all the times you’ve shared my stuff over the years.

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