the neapolitan minor

A plug for one of my favorite scales. You can think of this as a Phrygian with a sharp 7 (i.e. a major 7th) or you can think of it as a harmonic minor with a flat 2. Here it is built on C:


Harmonically there are some interesting chords. Look at the V7 chord: it's a free-roaming dominant 7 b5 chord. Look at it in 2nd inversion...that's right, it's a French augmented sixth chord (which is also analyzable as a Fr 4/3). Here is the G7b5 and the Fr+6 with its common resolution (the +6 opening up to a P8):


There are two extended triads: the V (a maj-dim, aka the Italian augmented 6th in root position) and the VII (dim3-dim).

As for the modes they're really interesting:

[mode i: phrygian #7]
mode ii: lydian #6
mode iii: mixolydian #5 (mixolydian augmented)
mode iv: aeolian #4 (lydian-aeolian)
mode v: locrian #3
mode vi: ionian #2
mode vii: (dorian #1) locrian bb3, bb7

And here's an actual use of the aeolian #4 found in measure 11 of Manuel Ponce's fantastic Sonata III:



And for you guitarists here is the scale in five positions comparable to the five positions of major, melodic minor and harmonic minor:



Learn it, love it, live it...