guitar scale
A♭ melodic minor
Minor third, major sixth and seventh — the ascending form, and the parent of most of the altered sounds below.
The same sounds spelled from the other side are G♯ melodic minor.
Written out
Every accidental is written in, rather than left to a key signature, so the letters can be read one at a time.
The step pattern
What is true of it
A♭ melodic minor is A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, F and G, and back to A♭.
Its steps are W – H – W – W – W – W – H, where W is a whole step and H a half.
On the same tonic, A♭ major differs from it by exactly one note.
Across the first twelve frets of the guitar its notes fall in 44 places, which is what makes a scale a shape rather than a list.
Chords made only of these notes
Found by testing every chord in the catalogue against these 7 sounds, not chosen.
Other scales on A♭
C mel minC♯ mel minD♭ mel minD mel minD♯ mel minE♭ mel minE mel minF mel minall 374