Chord Colors

C♯ Prometheus scale

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About the C sharp Prometheus scale

C sharp Prometheus is used for impressionist and mystical concert music. Think of it as the mystic chord of Scriabin turned into a scale, a raised fourth with no fifth. It is C Whole Tone with the sixth raised.

Its notes are C, D, E, G, A, and B. The formula is W W W 1½ H W.

Also called Mystic Scale and Mystic Chord.

Learn more about the C♯ Prometheus scale

This scale shares G and B with the guitar's open strings. Down at the 4th fret of the A string lies the lowest C a guitar can play. Placed at the first fret, a capo lets C Prometheus be played with C-shape fingerings.

Positions

Playable shapes for this scale up the neck. Tap any note to hear it.

6-position system

6 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.

Position 1fr 1
Position 2fr 3
Position 3fr 6
Position 4fr 7
Position 5fr 9
Position 6fr 11

Notes and intervals

1C#C♯Root
2D#D♯Major 2nd
3E#E♯Major 3rd
4GGAugmented 4th
5A#A♯Major 6th
6BBAugmented 6th
StepsW W W 1½ H W
Semitones2-2-2-3-1-2
Degrees1 2 3 4 6 6

Shapes

Chromatic

CC♯D♭DD♯E♭EFF♯G♭GG♯A♭AA♯B♭B

Circle of Fifths

CGDAEBF♯G♭C♯D♭G♯A♭D♯E♭A♯B♭F

Related scales

Prometheus in other keys

Modes

The same notes, starting on a different note.

Embed this scale

Paste the snippet into a lesson page, a blog or a forum post. The card links back here.

Db Prometheus scale on guitar shown as colored note dots
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