D♭ Lydian Dominant Scale

Notes in the D♭ Lydian Dominant Scale

Interval Pattern

Chords Built on Scale Degrees

Key Signature

5 ♭ — The D♭ key signature uses B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭.

D♭ Lydian Dominant Scale in Practice

The D♭ Lydian Dominant Scale uses the key signature of 5 flats (B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭). Db major has five flats and is enharmonically equivalent to C# major. It has a warm, veiled quality and appears in Romantic piano literature and jazz compositions. On guitar, D♭ positions offer comfortable transposing instrument keys for this scale.

The Lydian Dominant scale (mode IV of melodic minor) combines the raised 4th of Lydian with the flat 7th of Mixolydian. It is the preferred jazz scale for unresolved dominant chords. When played starting on D♭, the 7 notes are D♭, E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭, B. In this key the signature has 5 flats (B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭). Db major uses all five black keys of the piano, placing the hand naturally on the raised keys and creating a legato, connected feel. Modern R&B and neo-soul producers often write in Db because keyboard players find the five-flat hand position physically comfortable for extended improvisations.

Tuning Frequencies Across Temperaments

Frequencies shown at A=440 Hz. View full temperament data for any note.

Related Scales

Transposing Instruments: D♭ Lydian Dominant Scale

D♭ is a natural key for B♭ instruments (trumpet, clarinet, tenor sax), which sound a major second lower than written. B♭ instruments reading in C produce D♭ concert pitch. E♭ instruments (alto sax, baritone sax) reading in D♭ sound a major sixth lower.