Playing D Persian from an Open String
Let the open D string drone while you play D, Eb, F#, G, Ab, Bb and C#. That is the D Persian scale, and the Eb right above the root is its flat second.
In the box shapes, D appears at the 10th fret of the low E string and at the 5th fret of the A string. The major seventh, C#, sits one fret under the octave, so each run up the scale ends with a strong pull home. Try another exotic scale afterwards for contrast.
Play the D persian scale
Use the step menu in the player to switch between the single-string run and the box shapes.
Notes of the D persian scale
| Note | Degree | Interval | Semitones from root |
|---|---|---|---|
| D | 1 | Root | 0 |
| Eb | b2 | Minor 2nd | 1 |
| F# | 3 | Major 3rd | 4 |
| G | 4 | Perfect 4th | 5 |
| Ab | b5 | Tritone | 6 |
| Bb | b6 | Minor 6th | 8 |
| C# | 7 | Major 7th | 11 |
Structure
D persian scale notes:
How the persian scale is built:
The persian scale is built from the degrees 1 b2 3 4 b5 b6 7, which gives the step pattern H-W+H-H-H-W-W+H-H (W = whole step, H = half step).
Counting in semitones from the root: 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11. That makes it a 7-note scale.
D Persian Scale Guitar Patterns
Static diagrams of every position shown in the player above.
On one string (D)
Box pattern — position 1
Box pattern — position 2
Box pattern — position 3
Box pattern — position 4
Box pattern — position 5
3 notes per string — position 1
3 notes per string — position 2
3 notes per string — position 3
3 notes per string — position 4
3 notes per string — position 5
Chords in the D persian scale
Stacking thirds on each degree of the scale gives these chords.
Other scales on D
Same root, different notes. Play them back to back to hear what changes.
- D Bizantine: 5 instead of b5
- D Arabic: shares 5 notes
- D Indian: shares 4 notes
The persian scale in other keys
Keep learning
Created by
Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher
