What scale is this? Only 6 notes.

[SpiderWars]

I believe this is the scale Coroner (Tommy Vetterli) used in Mistress of Deception for the 'fast scale part'. It sounds minor-ish but actually has a major 3rd.

Here is the pattern:
Three notes per string
Index and pinky for every string
Alternate middle/ring finger every time you switch strings
Each time you change strings you move up a fret (going up) or down a fret (going down). Remembering to account for stupid B-string, 2 frets when going from 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 2nd.

The notes actually repeat every other string.

So the open low E and 1st fret F are part of the scale but the pattern starts on 4th fret/6th string. Use the middle finger on even numbered strings and ring finger on odd. Cool sounding scale!

Difficult to play that Coroner part at speed though. It happens twice in the song, first is at 1:00.

 

[Markedman]

Whole tone scale.

 

[SpiderWars]

But there are half-tone intervals in it.

6th string frets are 4-5-7
5th string frets are 5-7-8
and so on

 

[Exo-metal]

Killer band, in my top 3 easy.

 

[Beyond Black]

Killer band, in my top 3 easy.

Agreed, Coroner rule.

 

[nnajar]

It's just an A harmonic minor

 

[Rock Bodom]

The song is in A, so I agree that this would be A harmonic minor, but not using the 3rd which would be a C in this case, hence the 6 note pattern.

OP, I know you said it had a major 3rd, but actually I think it goes I, II skip III, IV, V, bVI, VII.

If the root was E, then the notes as played would be the 5th mode of harmonic minor, which is Phrygian Dominant, and you would have the major 3rd (you would also drop the b6).

 

[SpiderWars]

The song is in A, so I agree that this would be A harmonic minor, but not using the 3rd which would be a C in this case, hence the 6 note pattern.

OP, I know you said it had a major 3rd, but actually I think it goes I, II skip III, IV, V, bVI, VII.

If the root was E, then the notes as played would be the 5th mode of harmonic minor, which is Phrygian Dominant, and you would have the major 3rd (you would also drop the b6).

I thought it was E Phrygian Dominant until I noticed it was only 6 notes. I agree the song is in A but I think this part is in E...as is the part that immediately follows.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

A harmonic minor. It's the same run of notes as in all those descending Yngwie licks.

 

[SpiderWars]

A harmonic minor. It's the same run of notes as in all those descending Yngwie licks.

Could be (minus one note), I think it's because the C as the third sounds so sour in this context (but a C# is even worse). If I think of it as an E Phrygian Dom type of scale the 1-3-5 sound good.

 

[Rock Bodom]

Sure, so if we say the tonic shifts to E for the middle part before returning to A later on, key signature is still the same and what was harmonic minor with a skipped 3rd in A becomes E Phrygian Dominant with a skipped 6th.

Obviously there are named 6 tone scales as well, but I'm not aware of one that has these notes, which is why I think it's a skipped note pattern, but someone might correct me on that.

 

[RaceU4her]

How do you guys learn this shit? Any vids or anyone on YouTube or books?

 

[guitarnerdswe]

A harmonic minor. It's the same run of notes as in all those descending Yngwie licks.

Could be (minus one note), I think it's because the C as the third sounds so sour in this context (but a C# is even worse). If I think of it as an E Phrygian Dom type of scale the 1-3-5 sound good.

I just went with the previous statement that the song was in A. After listening to the track, I would agree with that the song changes to E as the tonal center just before the run begins, so E Phrygian Dominant (which are the same notes as A Harmonic Minor, but I digress).

 

[guitarnerdswe]

How do you guys learn this shit? Any vids or anyone on YouTube or books?

Which specific part of all this? Of you mean theory in general, I don't think the answer "a life time doing this shit" is a very helpful answer.

 

[Rock Bodom]

I would agree with that the song changes to E as the tonal center just before the run begins, so E Phrygian Dominant (which are the same notes as A Harmonic Minor, but I digress).

Yep, that's what I was saying earlier as well, but since, the OP was asking about this being a 6 tone scale, again, I think it's a simplified run since it fits a nice "3 note to a string" with the dropped 6th. Not a true 6 tone scale.

Honestly, I think the player just found a cool pattern and we are retro-fitting the technical name for it.

How do you guys learn this shit? Any vids or anyone on YouTube or books?

A little bit of life learning here as well since I studied this a long time ago, but honestly just anything with the basics of scales/modes for these types of questions. I have my old "Guitar Grimoire" book on scales and modes for quick reference along with other theory books, but a lot of online resources these days.

Here's a quick link to a site where you solve a problem like this one:

https://www.scales-chords.com/scalefinder.php

If you put in the notes that were mentioned here (E, F, G#, A, B, D), it will return A Harmonic Minor as the closest matching scale. And again, if you know modes, E Phrygian Dominant is the 5th mode of that, which is why it is the same notes (just a different tonic, aka root note).