Talk:Double harmonic scale

Sources needed, part II
The scale is not known widely as "double harmonic" major or minor; that's a neologism that charms a very limited range of musicians hoping to shoehorn an outdated terminology into a new range of possibilities. The scale has its oldest history in Iran and should probably be called Chahargah, and then should maybe be provisionally associated with maqam and rag systems that come later, and the term "double harmonic" could be mentioned as a trendy term associated with the scale.

This article, like so many music theory articles on Wikipedia, are the product of a charlatan cottage industry of self-publishing private music instructors, perpetrating information about "scales" and "chord progressions" that have a certain fleeting appeal to beginners; the sort of pamphlet that is printed for $2.50 a pop in bulk and sold at Guitar Center for $9. These scales have histories! The names need to defer to Persian, Turkish, and Hindustani music theory, dating back centuries, instead of serving limited Western sensibilities who might use them for exoticizing purposes. There is no "Arab scale" and there is no "Gypsy scale", there is no "Byzantine scale"... it's intellectually asinine to collapse entire histories and musical systems into single pitch-sets to be used like natural resources by hair-metal soloists. (In other words, these middle-aged white-guy mythologies, made of weirdly concocted names, need to be thrown in the dustbin. Forever. Wikipedia deserves better.)

Harmonic major is also a sketchy, sophomoric term made up by someone who thought that it made a certain kind of sense ... and it does ... but it's not a recognized or well-established term, and it shouldn't become one, as long as there are names for these scales that are centuries old. Unless someone can find a real source. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nadibautista (talk • contribs) 20:59, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Sources needed
This article doesn't cite it's sources, and I doubt the validity of the "patchy sound" section, because I use this scale often in my music and have not noticed patchiness. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.117.232.178 (talk) 05:35, 3 February 2008 (UTC)


 * In scales an interval of a third is considered a "gap" which is more or less apparent depending on the music you write. Sounds like in the music you write you think of the minor thirds as augmented seconds and treat them as such. The problem is with the terminology as "patchy" is indeed not the standard term. Hyacinth (talk) 09:01, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Jewish scale?
I would of thought the Phrygian Major 3rd mode of the Harmonic minor is better known as the 'Gypsy scale', rather than 'Jewish scale'. Anyone agree? ArdClose (talk) 23:36, 27 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Gypsy scale and Phrygian dominant scale still need work but I added sources for names in this article. Hyacinth (talk) 03:33, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Half Minor 2nd
Surely the second note is a flat second, a minor 2nd is the same as a major 2nd ArdClose (talk) 00:42, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * in music theory a minor interval doesn't necessarily denote the not of the minor scale.  Chromatically intervals are named, tonic, minor second, major second, minor third, major third, diminished fourth, perfect fourth, augmented fourth/diminished fifth, perfect fifth, minor sixth, major sixth, minor seventh (also sometimes called dominant seventh) and finally twelfth/tonic again.--88.106.194.12 (talk) 19:05, 15 November 2008 (UTC)


 * A minor second is one semitone, a major second is two semitones. A "flat second" in this case is in relation to the major scale, the second degree of which is two semitones above the tonic. Since in this scale the second degree is only one semitone above the tonic it is often called a "flat second". Hyacinth (talk) 03:33, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

gypsy scale is not the same as double harmonic
The information in this article is either wrong or clashes with other wiki articles. The gypsy scale    - 1, ♭2, 3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7 The double harmonic - 1, ♭2, 3, 4, 5, ♭6, 7 According to the wiki article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_scale none of the gypsy scales are the same as the double harmonic Dominant7flat9 (talk) 11:18, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

radial symmetry
This is an important feature of this scale, and more should be said about it. Perhaps with mention of other symmetrical scales, or perhaps they should have a page of their own Dominant7flat9 (talk) 20:13, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

I'm assuming the terminology "radial symmetry" came from Jeff Brent. I've read his book Modalogy that expands upon this kind of symmetry, but I feel like the terminology is poor because radial symmetry describes rotational symmetry as opposed to symmetry derived from "radiating" outwards ie bilateral symmetry. But, at this point, I'm only inventing my own theory. I haven't come across any texts that elaborates upon the symmetrical scale in general. Give me a few years and maybe I'll get something published... ~Conundrumer (talk) 04:18, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

Citations needed
Salutations to everyone. I would like your permission to put a Youtube link as a reliable reference to the statement: " Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Rainbow used the scale in pieces such as "Gates of Babylon" and "Stargazer". Thank you Nathanael Everton (talk) 16:11, 23 February 2014 (UTC)

Like Spinning Plates
Another song that uses this scale is Radiohead's Like Spinning Plates. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:2000:6A23:BD00:9227:E4FF:FEED:8CC7 (talk) 09:07, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

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To add to article
To add to article: isn't this also the Arabic maqam Hijazkar? 173.88.241.33 (talk) 23:23, 19 March 2019 (UTC)