The Byzantine Scale is a strikingly colorful scale that is useful for creating devastating melodies on your bass!
Learn how to play the Byzantine Scale.
Make your bass solos and your bass grooves legendary by using a scale that has the ability to sound both open and dense.
The Byzantine Scale
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Step 1: Use a Major Scale as Your Foundation
Use a Major Scale as your foundation for understanding how to create the Byzantine Scale.
For this lesson, we will use a C Major Scale. The C Major Scale has these notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
Step 2: Replace the Notes with Numbers
Replace the notes with numbers.
C = 1
D = 2
E = 3
F = 4
G = 5
A = 6
B = 7
C = 8 (same as 1. the number 8 denotes an octave up.)
These numbers are also known as degrees of a scale.
Step 3: Learn the Formula for Creating the Byzantine Scale
The formula for creating and playing the Byzantine Scale is:
1, b2, 3, 4, 5, b6, 7, 8
1 = C
b2 = Db (not C# because we are flatting the 2, not sharping the 1. This understanding is critical to your understanding of the Byzantine Scale.)
3 = E
4 = F
5 = G
b6 = Ab (not G# because we are flatting the 6, not sharping the 5.)
7 = B
8 = C
Explore the Sound
The Byzantine Scale is unique in that it has the ability to sound both open and dense.
The notes 7, 1, b2 create interesting chromaticism in that you have 3 chromatic notes back to back.
Then you also have the interval between b2, 3 and b6, 7.
These intervals are much wider and allow certain arpeggios to have a wider and more open sound.
Simplify the Formula
The approach to learning the formula for the Byzantine Scale can be simplified.
There is less thinking involved if you just learn the degrees of the scale that need to be altered.
For instance, for learning the Byzantine Scale, all you have to memorize is b2 and b6.
Two notes are easier to remember than having to memorize an entire scale.
