B altered scale on guitar
B altered has 7 notes: B C D E♭ F G A. Degrees: 1 ♭2 ♭3 ♭4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7. Formula: H W H W W W W.
What notes are in the B altered scale?
B, C, D, E♭, F, G and A. It has 7 notes; its formula in whole and half steps is H W H W W W W.
What does B altered sound like, and when do you use it?
Maximum tension: it holds every altered tension of a dominant chord. Use it over 7alt (7♯9, 7♭13) right before resolving.
Chords in B altered
| Degree | Triad | Seventh chord |
|---|---|---|
| i° | B° | Bm7♭5 |
| ♭ii | Cm | Cm(maj7) |
| ♭iii | Dm | Dm7 |
| ♭IV+ | E♭+ | E♭maj7♯5 |
| ♭V | F | F7 |
| ♭VI | G | G7 |
| ♭vii° | A° | Am7♭5 |
Chord progressions to improvise with B altered
In Jam mode (the Jam button above) a band of grand piano, upright bass and drums (recorded instruments) plays these progressions as swing, bossa, groove or ballad, and the fretboard lights up the notes of each chord as it plays. It's a backing track made for this scale in B:
- Altered vamp (I7alt): a B7alt vamp. A 7alt: ♭9, ♯9, ♯11 and ♭13, every tension at once.
- Resolution (I7alt–IVmaj7): B7alt | Emaj7. Tension in the first bar, arrival in the second: Emaj7 is outside the scale, so land on its highlighted notes.
B altered positions on guitar
In standard tuning (E A D G B E), with 3 notes per string, B altered is played in 7 positions along the neck:
- Position 1: frets 6 to 12 (starts on the root)
- Position 2: frets 8 to 13
- Position 3: frets 10 to 15
- Position 4: frets 11 to 17
- Position 5: frets 1 to 7
- Position 6: frets 3 to 8
- Position 7: frets 5 to 10
Same notes as
C melodic minor (ascending) · C melodic minor · E♭ Lydian augmented · F Lydian dominant · G Mixolydian ♭6 · A Locrian ♮2