A hip scale to give your lines some flavor
Major scales, minor scales, modes, and more—there are plenty of scales to choose from when you’re taking a solo or writing a phrase. Some scales are more common than others, while some lend a more unique color to your sound.
Today we’re going to talk about the augmented scale, which is a less common scale you can use on a solo over a major seventh chord, a minor chord, or even a ii-V-I.
To get to know this scale better, we’re going to look at how this scale is built, and we’ll run through five exercises to get you more comfortable using it in your own playing.
But first, make sure to check out our PDF package 20 Exercises for Augmented Scale Technique and our video on these exercises so you can get more out of your practice on this scale.
How to play the augmented scale
We’ll start by building the scale—which is an alternating pattern of minor thirds and half steps.
Here’s an example of a B-flat augmented scale:
Bb - Db - D - F - Gb - A - Bb
You’ll notice that the scale contains both a major and minor third, which makes this scale very versatile to play over a major or minor chord.
One thing to note, and this is a common misconception—this scale works best over a major 7 chord, because it has the major seventh interval. Many people will use it over a dominant 7 chord, which clashes the major 7 with the b7. That’s not to say you can’t use it over a dominant chord, but a tonic dominant chord is not diatonic to the scale. For an augmented 7th chord (or dominant #5 chord), you’ll want to check out the Mixolydian flat 6 or whole tone scale.
Most of all, the scale works naturally over an augmented (or major sharp 5 chord), as the name implies.
Looking at the chords in the augmented scale we have:
Bb major (Bbmaj7) | Db+ | D major (Dmaj7) | F+ | Gb major (Gbmaj7) | A+ |
Bb minor (BbmM7) | | D minor (DmM7) | | Gb minor (GbmM7) | |
Bb+ (Bb+maj7) | | D+ (D+maj7) | | Gb+ (Gb+maj7) | |
As you can see, the chords from this scale are unique—with plenty of minor-major seventh chords and augmented major seventh chords, sometimes with several chord possibilities from a single root note. By adding suspensions and other extensions, you can coax even more creative combinations out of this scale.
Where does this scale come from?
When you look closely, you notice that it is really a type of hexatonic scale built from a triad pair. The triads are two augmented chords a minor third apart, or in this case, B-flat and D-flat.
Bb - Db - D - F - Gb - A
Bb - D - F# (spelled here as Gb) and Db - F - A.
Now if you remember, augmented chords are symmetrical chords, built from two consecutive major thirds. With that in mind, any note in an augmented chord can be viewed as the root. A B-flat augmented chord is just as well a D augmented or Gb augmented chord.
This quirk of the augmented chord applies to the augmented scale, too—there are really only four unique augmented scales. That said, it is still important to practice in all 12 keys to get the most out of this scale.
Before we get into the five exercises, make sure to check out the PDF 20 Exercises for Augmented Scale Technique to try out all 20 exercises and really master the augmented scale in all 12 keys. Phrases from the augmented scale are super hip and make great licks.
Exercise Group 1: Diatonic scale exercise
Exercise 1 is really simple, we’re going to just step up a few degrees, then step back down to the original note, then we’ll stack that shape moving up each degree of the scale.