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I'm looking for the name of the scale or rag using the following notes:

A B C C# D E F G# and possibly a G when descending the scale.

It's coming from this song:

As it is from Pakistan I expect the name of a rag rather than a scale. From a Western point of view it would be like a A Harmonic Minor with a Major third or a Dm Harmonic with a 7Maj. It is close to Saba scale one can found in Turkish/Greek but has some crucials differences.

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  • Thanks for your input. Indeed i don’t see how to explain better than a A harmonic minor scale as from a western point of view. I’d be curious to get the name of the rag though as it’s used in a modal way.
    – Blasted_pingin
    Apr 25, 2020 at 10:39
  • Maybe you’ve transposed it, but I’m hearing different notes than the scale you list. I’m hearing C, D, D#, F, G, G#, B with passing tone of C#. Tonal center sounds like C or F. In any case I like it, but don’t have a name for it.
    – wabisabied
    Apr 25, 2020 at 20:30
  • Yep sorry i forgot I was playing with a capo on 3rd fret ;) Indeed the tonic (or Sa) is in C. I think the closest "scale" i found is a maqam called Sega with the third minor and major.
    – blasted_pingin
    Apr 27, 2020 at 18:24

1 Answer 1

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It looks like an A harmonic minor scale with a passing major third. A harmonic scale is minor scale with a raised seventh. So this scale would look like this:

enter image description here

However your scale, has an extra C#. That C# serves as a passing tone to the next note, D: enter image description here

But, we can also think about this scale as a D minor bebop lydian dominant scale, with the F defining the minor third, bebop as the major seventh, lydian with the raised fourth, and dominant with the minor seventh. enter image description here

But it gets too complicated after that so the A harmonic scale with a passing major third is the best way to think about it.

Hope that helps!

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