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A♭ messiaen's mode #5 Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: G, Ab, Bbb, Db, D, Eb at frets 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11

A string: Bbb, Db, D, Eb, G, Ab, Bbb at frets 0, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12

D string: D, Eb, G, Ab, Bbb, Db, D at frets 0, 1, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12

G string: G, Ab, Bbb, Db, D, Eb, G at frets 0, 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 12

B string: Db, D, Eb, G, Ab, Bbb at frets 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10

High E string: G, Ab, Bbb, Db, D, Eb at frets 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11

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Ab messiaen's mode #5

Messiaen's mode 5 is the smallest of Messiaen's modes: six notes in the pattern half step, major 3rd, half step, repeated, with the tritone as its axis of symmetry. It contains two chromatic clusters a tritone apart and nothing in between, more a sonority than a melody source. Composers use it for static, bell-like harmonic fields.

it consists of these notes and degrees:

A♭

I

B𝄫

bII

D♭

IV

D

#IV

E♭

V

G

VII

messiaen's mode #5 in all 12 keys, with chords and related scales

tip
  • Six notes on Ab, two chromatic clusters a tritone apart: root, b2 (A), IV and their mirror #4 (D), V, VII.
  • Treat it as harmony, not melody: sustain cluster voicings (root-b2 together, or IV-#4) for bell-like fields.
  • The tritone (root to #4 (D)) is the axis: phrases that swap the two clusters across it sound composed rather than random.
  • Use long decay: let notes overlap on separate strings; struck as chords it shimmers, run as a scale it stumbles.

How to play A♭ messiaen's mode #5 on guitar

A capo on fret 1 turns every shape here into G, so that key's fingerings apply unchanged. Open A, D and G all fall in the scale as a minor second, an augmented fourth and a major seventh. Not one of them anchors. Root nearest the nut sits at 1 on the G string, which means the low box can be grabbed from 4 on both E strings.

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