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This track at the beginning has some kind of an augmented scale.

The first sounds I hear are C, D#, G#, E, A, F#. While analyzing it to give it as least as possible alterations, I've realized it's basically a minor scale with a diminished first!

Instead of being the C# minor (C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A-B-C#) it's a C minor with all notes augmented (C-D#-E-F#-G#-A-B-C).

What's this scale called? Surely not "Aeolian with diminished first". There has to be a more professional term.

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    The first notes of the melody I hear are: D# E D# C A G#. I perceive G# as the root, and this is simply the 5th mode of C# harmonic minor (so the C above is actually a B#). This mode appears everywhere all the time to give an oriental flavor to a melody.
    – Matt L.
    Oct 30, 2015 at 10:32

2 Answers 2

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If you look at the notes starting on E, you see the scale pattern for the harmonic major scale which on E would result in.

E-F#-G#-A-B-C-D#

This scale can be looked at as the 6th of that mode. The specific name it has is Lydian Augmented #2 for the augmented triad built from the tonic and the raised supertonic.

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  • Did you actually listen or did you trust the OP's ears? The problem is that people may take this answer as an example of a "Lydian Augmented #2" scale actually occurring in practice, which, however, is not the case.
    – Matt L.
    Oct 30, 2015 at 10:34
  • @MattL. whether or not the the scale is used in the song the OP wanted to know what the name of a specific scale which he provided the notes for. I'm not going to try and transcribe everything that comes our way especially when the question is about the name of the scale rather than what the notes actually are. We can always remove the link to the song if it's not relevant.
    – Dom ♦
    Oct 30, 2015 at 14:17
  • Thanks! So it's Lydian Augmented #2? That's what I needed. But still, I don't understand how is it Lydian if it starts with LU (flattened LA in solmization) and Lydian starts with FA.
    – Foxcat385
    Oct 30, 2015 at 18:21
  • @Foxcat385 the pattern is all that matters. C Lydian is C-D-E-F#-G-A-B-C and the two alter tones D# and G# are covered by the name alteration.
    – Dom ♦
    Oct 30, 2015 at 18:28
  • @MattL. Dom was answering the larger question. The audio clip transcription would fall under "basic analysis" and is not conducive to the stack.
    – jjmusicnotes
    Oct 31, 2015 at 0:13
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Aeolian with a diminished first, while that is possible in a theoretical sense, isn't likely to appear in actual music. What I hear when listening to the first bars of the track is an emphasis on the minor third gap between the sixth and seventh degree of the harmonic minor scale (I don't have a keyboard in front of me to confirm the actual notes, but see Matt L.'s comments), thus what you've described as a "diminished first" might be the raised seventh of the harmonic minor, which is, with the exception of the seventh, identical to the aeolian mode.

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  • For some reason the user still believes it's some obscure "Lydian Augmented #2" scale (see comment under Dom's answer). Anyway, +1.
    – Matt L.
    Oct 30, 2015 at 21:28

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