Playing the C Aeolian b5 Scale

The C Aeolian b5 scale is C, D, Eb, F, Gb, Ab and Bb. It is C natural minor with the fifth lowered to Gb, so it contains a complete C minor seventh flat five chord: C, Eb, Gb and Bb.

Find the root on the 8th fret of the low E string or the 3rd fret of the A string. The notes are Eb melodic minor, started from its sixth degree, and Aeolian b5 over half-diminished chords shows it in use.

Play the C aeolian b5 scale

Use the step menu in the player to switch between the single-string run and the box shapes.

Notes of the C aeolian b5 scale

NoteDegreeIntervalSemitones from root
C1Root0
D2Major 2nd2
Ebb3Minor 3rd3
F4Perfect 4th5
Gbb5Tritone6
Abb6Minor 6th8
Bbb7Minor 7th10

Structure

C aeolian b5 scale notes:

C D Eb F Gb Ab Bb

How the aeolian b5 scale is built:

The aeolian b5 scale is built from the degrees 1 2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7, which gives the step pattern W-H-W-H-W-W-W (W = whole step, H = half step).

Counting in semitones from the root: 0, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10. That makes it a 7-note scale.

It is mode 6 of the Melodic Minor Scale, so both scales share the same notes from a different starting point.

It is also known as Locrian #2 and Half-Diminished Scale.

C Aeolian b5 Scale Guitar Patterns

Static diagrams of every position shown in the player above.

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - On one string (B)

On one string (B)

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 1

Box pattern — position 1

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 2

Box pattern — position 2

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 3

Box pattern — position 3

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 4

Box pattern — position 4

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - Box pattern — position 5

Box pattern — position 5

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 1

3 notes per string — position 1

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 2

3 notes per string — position 2

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 3

3 notes per string — position 3

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 4

3 notes per string — position 4

C Aeolian b5 Scale scale guitar pattern - 3 notes per string — position 5

3 notes per string — position 5

Chords in the C aeolian b5 scale

Stacking thirds on each degree of the scale gives these chords.

DegreeTriadSeventh chord
1 Cdim Cm7(b5)
2 Ddim Dm7(b5)
b3 Ebm Ebm(maj7)
4 Fm Fm7
b5 Gbaug Gbmaj7(b13)
b6 Ab Ab7
b7 Bb Bb7

Related modes

These scales share the same notes as the aeolian b5 scale, starting from a different degree.

Melodic Minor Scale Dorian b2 Scale Lydian Augmented Scale Lydian Dominant Scale Mixolydian b6 Scale Super Locrian Scale

The aeolian b5 scale in other keys

C C# Db D D# Eb E F F# Gb G G# Ab A A# Bb B

All about the aeolian b5 scale →

Giancarlo Facoetti, founder of FaChords Guitar

Created by

Giancarlo Facoetti

Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher