The Double Harmonic Mystery Scale

Sid Jacobs explores the double harmonic scale — also called the Byzantine scale — as a way to expand your improvisation vocabulary for modal playing. Though it may be foreign to some ears, it's a common sound in Persian and Indian music, and it turns up everywhere from Duke Ellington's "Caravan" to the chords Herbie Hancock loves.

What's covered

• The scale's structure: two "harmonic" tetrachords (the Schillinger naming), or simply a major scale with a flat 2 and flat 6
• A friendly, symmetrical fingering for getting it under your hands
• Melodic development going up and down the scale, the way Indian music does so well
• Diatonic fourths through the scale, with each mode giving a different interval sequence
• Triad pairs — the C and D-flat triads built into the scale, and lines that come from them
• Chord colors from the scale, including the major-under-minor voicing Sid calls the "Herbie chord," and how it compares to Phrygian and Lydian sounds

If you're looking to add a distinctive new color to your harmonic awareness, this class applies Sid's familiar pattern and triad-pair approaches to a fresh note orientation. Full class: 45 min 7 sec, with download included.