Ab major scale

7 notes · the major 7th

The scale the rest of this page is measured against. Its seven notes harmonise into the seven chords of a major key, and the only unstable note in it is the 4th, a semitone above the 3rd of the tonic chord. Held against the tonic it grinds; passed through on the way somewhere it is the most ordinary note in the scale.

Heard in: Almost everything in western popular music, at some point in it.

Key
CC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭B
majornatural minordorianmixolydianlydianphrygianlocrianharmonic minormelodic minorlydian dominantlydian augmentedalteredmajor pentatonicminor pentatonicblueswhole tonediminishedhalf-whole diminished

The notes of Ab major

The whole scale. Choose a chord below and this row will show which of these notes it uses.

Ab
1
Bb
2
C
3
Db
4
Eb
5
F
6
G
7
357912156, E string fret 167, E string fret 371, E string fret 412, E string fret 623, E string fret 834, E string fret 945, E string fret 1156, E string fret 1367, E string fret 1572, A string fret 123, A string fret 334, A string fret 445, A string fret 656, A string fret 867, A string fret 1071, A string fret 1112, A string fret 1323, A string fret 1535, D string fret 156, D string fret 367, D string fret 571, D string fret 612, D string fret 823, D string fret 1034, D string fret 1145, D string fret 1356, D string fret 1567, G string fret 071, G string fret 112, G string fret 323, G string fret 534, G string fret 645, G string fret 856, G string fret 1067, G string fret 1271, G string fret 1312, G string fret 1523, B string fret 134, B string fret 245, B string fret 456, B string fret 667, B string fret 871, B string fret 912, B string fret 1123, B string fret 1334, B string fret 1446, e string fret 167, e string fret 371, e string fret 412, e string fret 623, e string fret 834, e string fret 945, e string fret 1156, e string fret 1367, e string fret 157
15 frets in standard tuning, high E at the top. Each dot is labelled with its degree rather than its note, because that is the part that moves with you when you play the shape somewhere else. The green dot is the root of whatever is being shown — the scale, or the chord chosen out of it.

The chords in Ab major

Take every other note of the scale and you have a chord. Do it from each degree in turn and you have the key. Each row below is that stack, and the letters in it say what each scale note becomes in that chord — so the C of the scale is the 3rd of one chord, the 5th of another and the root of a third. Choose a row to see it on the neck.

Each chord of Ab major, and which notes of the scale it takes
DegreeChord
Ab
1
Bb
2
C
3
Db
4
Eb
5
F
6
G
7
IR·3·5·7
ii7R·3·5·
iii·7R·3·5
IV5·7R·3·
V·5·7R·3
vi3·5·7R·
vii°·3·5·7R

Every note of the scale appears in four of these chords, and every chord shares three of its four notes with the chord a third away from it. That overlap is why one can be substituted for another.

What to play Ab major over

The chords on Ab whose every note this scale contains, biggest first. The largest of them is the one that pins the scale down: over Abmaj11 there is nothing in Ab major that can sound wrong.

Abmaj11Abmaj13Abmaj9Ab69Absus2sus4Abmaj7Abadd9Ab6AbAbsus2Absus4Ab5

Modes of this scale

Same notes, different home. Which one you are in is decided by the chord underneath, not by the notes.

Ab natural minorAb dorianAb mixolydianAb lydianAb phrygianAb locrian

The key of Ab major is these chords with everything a key borrows on top of them: the key explorer adds the secondary dominants, tritone substitutions and borrowed chords. Every scale on every root is on the scale index, and every chord on the chord index. Where the shapes and the theory come from is on the about page.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode