6th Mode Melodic Minor

The sixth mode of the melodic minor scale is identical to the Aeolian mode except for it’s flat fifth.

It is not shocking then to learn that many call this scale Aeolian flat fifth. (Aeolian b5)

As always, the alteration of one tone in a scale radically changes it’s character and
feeling.

This scale is commonly heard in the folk songs of the Middle East as well as Turkey and Hungary, where it is known as Shur.

I have also seen this scale called “Arabian”.

I find this to be more restless than Aeolian, like the whole tone scale, and yet somehow jazzy like the Lydian. It’s a bit like jamming the Lydian and the Aeolian together.

Me likee!