Soloing Over Altered Dominant Chords

There are several scales that work well for soloing over altered dominant chords, including:

  • The Phrygian dominant scale.
  • The Lydian dominant scale.
  • The whole tone scale.
  • The dominant diminished scale.
  • The altered scale.

These scales work well over various altered dominant chords because the notes contained in the chords can also be found in the scales.

The Phrygian Dominant Scale

A Phrygian dominant scale works well over:

Over Unaltered Dominant Seventh Chords

A Phrygian dominant scale works well over an unaltered dominant chord with the same root note, especially when the chord is functioning as the V7 chord in a minor key chord progression.

For example, a C Phrygian dominant scale is commonly used to solo over a C7 chord in the key of F minor.

Fig.1 shows that all of the notes contained in a C7 chord — C, E, G and Bb — can also be found in a C Phrygian dominant scale.

Fig.1

Over Dominant Seventh, Flat Nine Chords

A Phrygian dominant scale also works well over a dominant seventh, flat nine chord with the same root note.

For example, a C Phrygian dominant scale is commonly used to solo over a C7(b9) chord.

Fig.2 shows that all of the notes in a C7(b9) chord — C, E, G, Bb and Db — can also be found in a C Phrygian dominant scale.

Fig.2

Over Dominant Seventh, Sharp Five Chords

A Phrygian dominant scale also works well over a dominant seventh, sharp five chord with the same root note.

For example, a C Phrygian dominant scale is commonly used to solo over a C7(#5) chord.

Fig.3 shows that all of the notes in a C7(#5) chord — C, E, G#, Bb — can also be found in a C Phrygian dominant scale.

The Ab in the scale has been enharmonically renamed G# to fit the correct spelling of the chord.

Fig.3

The Lydian Dominant Scale

A Lydian dominant scale works well over:

Over Unaltered Dominant Seventh Chords

A Lydian dominant scale works well over an unaltered dominant chord with the same root note, especially when the chord is functioning as the IV7 chord in a minor key chord progression.

For example, a C Lydian dominant scale is commonly used to solo over a C7 chord in the key of G minor.

Fig.4 shows that all of the notes in a C7 chord — C, E, G and Bb — can also be found in a C Lydian dominant scale.

Fig.4

Over Dominant Seventh, Flat Five Chords

A Lydian dominant scale also works well over a dominant seventh, flat five chord with the same root note.

For example, a C Lydian dominant scale is commonly used to solo over a C7(b5) chord.

Fig.5 shows that all of the notes in a C7(b5) chord — C, E, Gb, Bb — can also be found in a C Lydian dominant scale.

The F# in the scale has been enharmonically renamed Gb to fit the correct spelling of the chord.

Fig.5

Over Dominant Seventh, Sharp Eleven Chords

A Lydian dominant scale also works well over a dominant seventh, sharp eleven chord with the same root note.

For example, a C Lydian dominant scale is commonly used to solo over a C7(#11) chord.

Fig.6 shows that all of the notes in a C7(#11) chord — C, E, G, Bb and F# — can also be found in a C Lydian dominant scale (fig.6).

Fig.6

Whole Tone Scale

A whole tone scale works well over:

  • Dominant seventh, flat five chords.
  • Dominant seventh, sharp five chords.

Over Dominant Seventh, Flat Five Chords and Dominant Seventh, Sharp Five Chords

A whole tone scale works well over dominant seventh chords with an altered fifth scale degree (sharp or flat).

For example, a C whole tone scale is commonly used to solo over the chords C7(b5) and C7(#5).

Fig.7 shows that all of the notes in the chords C7(b5) and C7(#5) — C, E, Gb, G# and Bb — can also be found in a C whole tone scale.

The F# and the A# in the scale have been enharmonically renamed Gb and Bb, respectively, to fit the correct spelling of the chords.

Fig.7

The Dominant Diminished Scale

The dominant diminished scale works well over:

Over Dominant Seventh, Flat Nine Chords

A dominant diminished scale works well over a dominant seventh, flat nine chord with the same root note.

For example, a C dominant diminished scale is commonly used to solo over a C7(b9) chord.

Fig.8 shows that all of the notes in a C7(b9) chord — C, E, G, Bb and Db — can also be found in a C dominant diminished scale.

Fig.8

Over Dominant Seventh, Sharp Nine Chords

A C dominant diminished scale also works well over dominant seventh, sharp nine chord with the same root note.

For example, a C dominant diminished scale is commonly used to solo over a C7(#9) chord.

Fig.9 shows that all of the notes in a C7(#9) chord — C, E, G, Bb and D# — can also be found in a C dominant diminished scale.

The Eb in the scale has been enharmonically renamed to D# to match the spelling of the C7(#9) chord.

Fig.9

Over Dominant Seventh, Sharp Eleven Chords

The dominant diminished scale also works well over a dominant seventh, sharp eleven chord with the same root note.

For example, a C dominant diminished scale is commonly used to solo over a C7(#11) chord.

Fig.10 shows that all of the notes in a C7(#11) chord — C, E, G, Bb and F# — can also be found in a C dominant diminished scale.

The Gb in the scale has been enharmonically renamed as F# to match the spelling of the C7(#11) chord.

Fig.10

The Altered Scale

The altered scale works well over dominant seventh chords that contain an altered fifth scale degree (sharp or flat) and/or an altered ninth scale degree (sharp or flat), in any combination.

For example, a C altered scale is commonly used to solo over all of the altered dominant chords shown in fig.11.

Fig.11

All of the altered notes in the above chords (Gb, G#, Db and D#, highlighted in blue) are also found in a C altered scale (fig.12).

The Eb and Ab notes in the scale have been renamed enharmonically D# and G#, respectively, to match the correct spelling of the chords.

Fig.12

The altered scale works best when an altered fifth scale degree is included in the dominant seventh chord, because the scale itself does not contain a natural fifth degree and if there is one included in a chord, those notes have a tendency to clash with one another.

The scale also works best if there are both an altered fifth scale degree and an altered ninth scale degree contained in the dominant seventh chord.

Related Posts

Related posts include: