About the A sharp Oriental (Chinese) scale
A sharp Oriental (Chinese) is used for Middle Eastern flavored and cinematic melodies. Think of it as an exotic dominant scale with a flat second and flat fifth.
Its notes are A♯, B, C♯♯, D♯, E, F♯♯, and G♯. The formula is H 1½ H H 1½ H W. It is the fifth mode of D♯ Double Harmonic Major.
Four open-string notes belong to A♯ Oriental (Chinese), namely E, D, G, and B. A guitarist finds the lowest A♯ at the 1st fret of the A string. The scale runs a complete octave from root to root inside the first three frets.
Positions
Playable shapes for this scale up the neck. Tap any note to hear it.
CAGED
Five shapes, each anchored to a chord form you already know, the pop and rock default that ties your scales to your chords. The outlined notes are that chord, so you can see the C, A, G, E, and D shapes inside the scale.
3NPS
3NPS stands for 3 notes per string. It lays the scale out in seven even shapes for rock and metal lead, and favors speed because the picking pattern stays consistent across every string.
7-position system
7 four-fret boxes, one per scale degree, each a single hand position with almost no shifting. The jazz and classical way, from William Leavitt's Berklee method.
Notes and intervals
| 1 | A#A♯ | Root |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | BB | Minor 2nd |
| 3 | C##C♯♯ | Major 3rd |
| 4 | D#D♯ | Perfect 4th |
| 5 | EE | Diminished 5th |
| 6 | F##F♯♯ | Major 6th |
| 7 | G#G♯ | Minor 7th |
| Steps | H 1½ H H 1½ H W |
|---|---|
| Semitones | 1-3-1-1-3-1-2 |
| Degrees | 1 ♭2 3 4 ♭5 6 ♭7 |
Shapes
Chromatic
Circle of Fifths
Related scales
Oriental (Chinese) in other keys
Modes
The same notes, starting on a different note.
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