Low E string: Fb, Gb, Abb, Bb, Cb, Dbb, Eb, Fb at frets 0, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12
A string: Bb, Cb, Dbb, Eb, Fb, Gb, Abb at frets 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10
D string: Eb, Fb, Gb, Abb, Bb, Cb, Dbb at frets 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10
G string: Abb, Bb, Cb, Dbb, Eb, Fb, Gb, Abb at frets 0, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12
B string: Cb, Dbb, Eb, Fb, Gb, Abb, Bb, Cb at frets 0, 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12
High E string: Fb, Gb, Abb, Bb, Cb, Dbb, Eb, Fb at frets 0, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12
The oriental scale is the double harmonic major scale with its 5th flattened: root, flat 2nd, major 3rd, 4th, flat 5th, 6th, flat 7th. Losing the perfect 5th removes its anchor, tilting the byzantine sound toward the diminished and making the natural 6th glow strangely above the b5. A deliberately unstable exotic color.
it consists of these notes and degrees:
I
bII+
III
IV
bV
vi
bvii
Same notes, different mode
Gb oriental 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♭ oriental on guitar
Seven flats on paper, but a capo at the 2nd fret plus E oriental shapes covers the same ground, which means the accidental count never reaches your hands. Four open strings fall in the key: both E strings on the minor seventh, open G on the minor second, open B on the fourth. Lowest root sits at fret 2 of the low E string, so an E-shape barre there grabs the tonic straight away. Fret 4, D string, holds another root. First box ends at fret 6, giving a clean handoff into the next position.
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