The Ab Dorian scale is Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb. It's shown below across all 24 frets: use the Shape menu to see each of the 5 positions, and press Play to hear it.
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Your hand keeps moving down and up the whole time. The boxes only show when it touches the strings.
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See Mentorship PlansThe Ab Dorian scale has 7 notes: Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb. Its formula is 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7, and the gaps between the notes go W H W W W H W (W is a whole step of two frets, H is a half step of one fret). Ab Dorian uses the same notes as Gb major, its parent major scale. The difference is that everything centres on Ab.
Compared with Ab minor, it has the major 6th (F) instead of the minor 6th (Fb).
| Degree | Interval | Name | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Root | A♭ |
| 2 | 2 | 2nd | B♭ |
| 3 | b3 | Minor 3rd | C♭ |
| 4 | 4 | 4th | D♭ |
| 5 | 5 | 5th | E♭ |
| 6 | 6 | Major 6th | F |
| 7 | b7 | Minor 7th | G♭ |
The fretboard above shows Ab Dorian across all 24 frets. Its root, Ab, is on the low E string at the 4th fret, and Position 1 starts there. Use the Shape menu to see the 5 positions one at a time (plus the seven 3-notes-per-string shapes, great for speed and legato), press Play to hear the one you're looking at, and switch the labels to intervals to see where the root, 3rd and 5th sit in each shape.
Learn one position until you can play it up and down without looking, then learn the next one along and practise moving between the two. Before long the whole neck joins up.
These are the chords you get by stacking every other note of the scale on each degree. They're the chords that sound "at home" with Ab Dorian.
| Degree | Triad | 7th chord |
|---|---|---|
| i | Abm | Abm7 |
| ii | Bbm | Bbm7 |
| III | Cb | Cbmaj7 |
| IV | Db | Db7 |
| v | Ebm | Ebm7 |
| vi° | Fdim | Fm7b5 |
| VII | Gb | Gbmaj7 |
Dorian is a minor mode with a natural 6th. That one note makes it sound brighter and more soulful than the natural minor, which is why it turns up so much in funk, jazz, fusion and blues-rock.
Use it over Abm7, Abm6 and Abm9 chords, and over an Abm7 to IV vamp. Lean on the 6th to bring out the Dorian sound; without it you're basically just playing Ab minor.
A♭ Major G♯ Minor G♯ Minor Pentatonic A♭ Major Pentatonic G♯ Blues G♯ Phrygian A♭ Lydian A♭ Mixolydian G♯ Locrian G♯ Harmonic Minor A♭ Melodic Minor
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The Ab Dorian scale is Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, F, Gb.
The Dorian scale formula is 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7, which is a step pattern of W H W W W H W.
There are 5 positions, plus seven 3-notes-per-string (3NPS) shapes, one starting on each note of the scale. Use the Shape menu on this page to see each one on its own.
Compared with Ab minor, it has the major 6th (F) instead of the minor 6th (Fb).