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

Low E string: Fb, Ab, A, Bb, D, Eb, Fb at frets 0, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12

A string: A, Bb, D, Eb, Fb, Ab, A at frets 0, 1, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12

D string: D, Eb, Fb, Ab, A, Bb, D at frets 0, 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 12

G string: Ab, A, Bb, D, Eb, Fb at frets 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9

B string: D, Eb, Fb, Ab, A, Bb at frets 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11

High E string: Fb, Ab, A, Bb, D, Eb, Fb at frets 0, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12

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Eb 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:

E♭

I

F♭

bII

A♭

IV

A

#IV

B♭

V

D

VII

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

tip
  • Six notes on Eb, two chromatic clusters a tritone apart: root, b2 (E), IV and their mirror #4 (A), 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 (A)) 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 E♭ messiaen's mode #5 on guitar

Four open strings fall in this key, none of them the tonic or its fifth, so no open pedal is possible. Root closest to the nut is fret 1 on the D string, then 4 on the B and 6 on the A. Lowest root sits at 11, meaning the next box does not arrive until 15. A capo at fret 1 makes it D.

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