G♭ melodic minor

G♭1A♭2B♭♭♭3C♭4D♭5E♭6F7

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 F♯ melodic minor.

on guitar on piano

Written out

Fig. 2 · Gb melodic minor, ascending

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

G♭WA♭HB♭♭WC♭WD♭WE♭WFHG♭

What is true of it

G♭ melodic minor is G♭, A♭, B♭♭, C♭, D♭, E♭ and F, and back to G♭.

Its steps are W – H – W – W – W – W – H, where W is a whole step and H a half.

Written correctly it needs 7 alterations, B♭♭ among them. That is what the letters force, and it is also why nobody writes music in this key: the same notes spelled from the other side are easier to read.

On the same tonic, G♭ major differs from it by exactly one note.

Across the first twelve frets of the ukulele its notes fall in 29 places, which is what makes a scale a shape rather than a list.

Chords made only of these notes

D♭major D♭augaugmented D♭7dominant seventh E♭dimdiminished E♭m7♭5half-diminished seventh Fdimdiminished Faugaugmented Fm7♭5half-diminished seventh

Found by testing every chord in the catalogue against these 7 sounds, not chosen.

Other scales on G♭

G♭ natural minorminor G♭ harmonic minorminor G♭ majormajor G♭ harmonic majormajor G♭ Dorianmode

C mel min C♯ mel min D♭ mel min D mel min D♯ mel min E♭ mel min E mel min F mel min all 374