guitar scale
A♭ harmonic minor
Natural minor with the seventh raised, which buys a leading note and pays for it with a step and a half between the sixth and seventh.
The same sounds spelled from the other side are G♯ harmonic minor.
Written out
Every accidental is written in, rather than left to a key signature, so the letters can be read one at a time.
The step pattern
What is true of it
A♭ harmonic minor is A♭, B♭, C♭, D♭, E♭, F♭ and G, and back to A♭.
Its steps are W – H – W – W – H – W+H – H, where W is a whole step and H a half.
It costs 6 alterations to write — near the limit of what a key signature can carry.
On the same tonic, A♭ natural minor differs from it by exactly one note.
Across the first twelve frets of the guitar its notes fall in 46 places, which is what makes a scale a shape rather than a list.
Chords made only of these notes
Found by testing every chord in the catalogue against these 7 sounds, not chosen.
Other scales on A♭
C harm minC♯ harm minD♭ harm minD harm minD♯ harm minE♭ harm minE harm minF harm minall 374