Exotic Scales

Pentatonic

Eastern Pentatonic - Yo

R M2 P4 P5 M6
 w  +  w  w  +

Eastern Pentatonic - In

R m2 P4 P5 m6
 h  *  w  h  *

Egyptian/Suspended Pentatonic

R M2 P4 P5 m7
 w  +  w  +  w

Pentatonic - Minor Blues

R m3 P4 m6 m7
 +  w  +  w  w

Heptatonic

Double Harmonic

R m2 M3 P4 P5 m6 M7
 h  +  h  w  h  +  h

Hungarian Minor

R M2 m3 a4 P5 m6 M7
 w  h  +  h  h  +  h

Octatonic

Whole-Half

R M2 m3 P4 d5 m6 M6 M7
 w  h  w  h  w  h  w  h

Half-Whole

R m2 m3 d4 d5 P5 M6 m7
 h  w  h  w  h  w  h  w

Hexatonic

Whole Tone

R M2 M3 a4 a5 a6    =  R M2 M3 d5 m6 m7
 w  w  w  w  w  w

Augmented

R m3 M3 a5 m6 M7
 +  h  +  h  +  h

Prometheus

R M2 M3 tt M6 m7
 w  w  w  +  h  w

Tritone

R m2 m3 a4 P5 m7
 h  w  +  h  +  w

Chromatic

R m2 M2 m3 M3 P4 d5 P5 m6 M6 m7 M7
 h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h

• Chopin
• Petrucci

Symmetric Scales

Symmetric Scales are scales that divide an octave into 2 or more equal parts. In other words, the whole/half pattern of notes for each piece will be identical and there are no leftover notes. Here is an example of a symmetric scale I am just inventing:

R m2 P4 d5 m6 M7
 h  *  h  h  *  h

We can divide this into two equal parts:

R  m2 P4 d5
d5 m6 M7 R
  h  *  h

The most symmetric scale is the chromatic scale:

R m2 M2 m3 M3 P4 d5 P5 m6 M6 m7 M7 R
 h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h  h

Which can be represented as follows:

R  m2 M2 m3 M3 P4 d5
d5 P5 m6 M6 m7 M7 R
  h  h  h  h  h  h

R  m2 M2 m3 M3
M3 P4 d5 P5 m6
m6 M6 m7 M7 R
  h  h  h  h

R  m2 M2 m3 
m3 M3 P4 d5
d5 P5 m6 M6
M6 m7 M7 R
  h  h  h

R  m2 M2
M2 m3 M3
M3 P4 d5
d5 P5 m6
m6 M6 m7
m7 M7 R
  h  h

R  m2
m2 M2
M2 m3
m3 M3
M3 P4
P4 d5
d5 P5
P5 m6
m6 M6
M6 m7
m7 M7
M7 R
  h

• If the scale is symmetric by dividing the octave into halves, it must have the a4/tt/d5 note.
• Pentatonic and Hexatonic scales cannot be symmetric as 5 and 7 are prime numbers that cannot be subdivided into 2 or more groups of equal notes

Common symmetric scales include:

• Whole Tone
• Octatonic (Whole-Half and Half-Whole)
• Chromatic
• Augmented

Synthetic Scales

Synthetic Scales are formed by lowering or raising a single note of an existing scale by a half-step.