STRINGSCALES

D♭ messiaen's mode #6 Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: F, Gb, G, A, B, C, Db, Eb at frets 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11

A string: A, B, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, G, A at frets 0, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12

D string: Eb, F, Gb, G, A, B, C, Db at frets 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11

G string: G, A, B, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, G at frets 0, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12

B string: B, C, Db, Eb, F, Gb, G, A, B at frets 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12

High E string: F, Gb, G, A, B, C, Db, Eb at frets 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11

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Db messiaen's mode #6

Messiaen's mode 6 is an eight note mode of limited transposition: whole, whole, half, half, repeated twice, repeating at the tritone. It merges whole tone motion with chromatic braking points, so lines glide and then suddenly snag. Like all these modes its transpositions are limited (six here), which is exactly what gives music built on it its circling, suspended quality.

it consists of these notes and degrees:

D♭

I

E♭

II

F

III

G♭

IV

G

#IV

A

#V

B

#VI

C

VII

messiaen's mode #6 in all 12 keys, with chords and related scales

tip
  • The cell is whole-whole-half-half twice per octave starting from Db: whole tone gliding that keeps snagging on chromatic brakes.
  • It repeats at the tritone (six transpositions); build phrases that answer themselves six frets away.
  • Alternate whole-step slides with half-step resolutions to dramatize the two interval characters inside one line.
  • Both the natural 4th (Gb) and raised 4th (G) are present: rock them against each other over a root pedal on Db.

How to play D♭ messiaen's mode #6 on guitar

Nearest Db root to the nut sits at fret 2 on the B string, with barre grips at 4 and 9. Capo 1 restores the C fingering, which lets you borrow grips you already own. Open A, G and B belong to the key, sitting an augmented fifth, augmented fourth and augmented sixth above the tonic, giving three colour tones and no working pedal. Symmetry repeats that shape 6 semitones up as G.

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