Low E string: Fb, Gb, Ab, Cb, Db, Fb at frets 0, 2, 4, 7, 9, 12
A string: Cb, Db, Fb, Gb, Ab at frets 2, 4, 7, 9, 11
D string: Fb, Gb, Ab, Cb, Db at frets 2, 4, 6, 9, 11
G string: Ab, Cb, Db, Fb, Gb at frets 1, 4, 6, 9, 11
B string: Cb, Db, Fb, Gb, Ab, Cb at frets 0, 2, 5, 7, 9, 12
High E string: Fb, Gb, Ab, Cb, Db, Fb at frets 0, 2, 4, 7, 9, 12
The egyptian scale is the suspended pentatonic: root, 2nd, 4th, 5th, flat 7th. It is the minor pentatonic rotated to start on its 4th... with no 3rd anywhere, it commits to neither major nor minor, evoking the open, ancient sound film composers reach for. Over a sus7 chord or a bare fifth drone it sits perfectly.
it consists of these notes and degrees:
I
II
IV
V
bVII
Same notes, different mode
Gb egyptian uses the same notes as the scales below. Start from a different note and you get a new mode built on the very same note set.
How to play G♭ egyptian on guitar
Three open strings fall in the scale, none of them the tonic or its fifth, so treat them as passing colour. Capo at fret 2 puts you in E fingerings. Lowest root sits at fret 2 on the sixth string, doubled at the same fret up top, which means the two outer strings line up. Five flats on the page, box one runs to its limit at fret 6, and the A-shape barre lands at fret 9.
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