The Mystery of the Double Harmonic Major Scale

In this episode we explore the mysteries of the double harmonic major scale and it's modes.
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Nahre Sol: / @nahresol
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[@brigidwell]

A single video like this is seriously more valuable than many of the music classes in undergrad.

[@SpitfireRoad]

Classically trained here. Never heard these scales in theory classes. Played some of them in context of the piano pieces I learned, but these scales speak to me in altogether new ways.

[@GlennFiddles]

This is actually one of the most common interval sets in middle Eastern maqam. It's called Hijazkar/Hicazkar. You can find lots of great instrumental compositions, improvisations (taksim), and songs in this maqam in Turkish and Arabic traditions. Nice work. The derived modes sound amazing in your compositions.

[@JPVillalobos27]

In Hindustani music this would be Raag Bhairav.

[@johnsuede]

My father, who was a professional bouzouki player who learned his craft in the port bars of Greece from the old time rembetiko masters, taught me this scale 50 years ago when I was a kid. I wish I had learned more from him when I had the chance.

[@EllaSilentDragon]

I wonder if that’s what Dimash uses with his melismas in Story Of One Sky and Stranger (among others). They always sound very oriental to me. No idea about music theory. But maybe someone knows…😅

[@yanniszacharopoulos4939]

Can you tell us the name of the turkish or arabic musician found this you call maqam ?? go learn and then speak, information is one thing and knowledge is another !

[@kinawellas4356]

Also Byzantine Music. Echos Plagios B.

[@ericprincen3345]

I miss these, Rick. Brings me back to the beginning of my time watching.

[@privateer2584]

Exactly what I was thinking. Although I love what the channel has grown into, I do miss all the theory content.

[@LouieTaylorMusic]

was thinking the same thing.

[@kospandx]

I've really missed these types of videos. Loving this!

[@davidsummerville351]

I've missed them as well.

[@kospandx]

@@kierenmoore3236So are recorded tracks and artist interviews. The interesting part is what is being done with them.

[@GiuseppeVigliotti]

Same here

[@giovi.0]

Fantastic lesson. For those interested in the mystical aspect of music it could be added that the double harmonic is a palindromic scale with same pattern of intervals ascending and descending. Rick had covered this in another wonderful lesson.

[@fretlessfender]

And this is why Rick's one of the best music channel ever....

[@M2Mil7er]

two of the best music channels. This is the 2nd channel 😋

[@samstamos427]

Dick Dale's cover of "Misirlou" (Surfer's Choice, 1975) is probably the most recognized song of the Double Harmonic Major. Misirlou is an old-time Greek Rebetiko style song popularized in the early 20th century, it origins are debated about in the reaches of the Eastern Mediterranean. It is actually a slow and sultry lover's lament. Modern day Greek Vocalist "Glykeria" performs a wonderful example of "Misirlou", You Tube videos with the Greek lyrics and English transliteration are worth your time if you would care to listen..

[@swissarmyknight4306]

If anyone is wondering what "Misirlou" is about, its about a forbidden romance between a Greek man (singing) and an Egyptian woman ("Misirlou" means "Egyptian girl") who the song is about.

[@samstamos427]

@@swissarmyknight4306 Yeah, he was "Love Struck, Baby!" Poor fella...

[@dickstryker]

Thatks for the heads up. I love that song and it's relly cool having a historic rabit hole to dive down now. Appreciate ya, hommie.

[@xxczerxx]

I think that song is fascinating in that it created an entirely new sound by playing a known tune in a totally different style.

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

Just listened to Glykeria performing a slow and mesmerizing version of the song. Much better than the upbeat surf version if you ask me. Perfect for a slow heavy grinding unsettling metal version with lots of eastern mediterranian/middle eastern flavour.

[@JPVillalobos27]

In Hindustani music this structure is called Raag Bhairav.

[@davidf2281]

It's all fun and games with the flats until you're on your tricycle with triple flats and no spare phyrygian inner tubes.

[@lucraymond2198]

Lmao 🤦‍♂️

[@martinheath5947]

Every Phrygian time

[@gregamann2327]

That’s sooooo bad! 👍

[@Johnkiernanmusic]

😂😂

[@singthroughyourguitar]

Lol 😂

[@rdspam]

Never thought I’d see the Locrian double flat 3 double flat 7….anywhere. One of my favorite ultra-obscure scales.

[@zachrowe1511]

I wish you went over the chords each scale could make. The flat 2 mode having access to both the major and minor third is trippy to me and I would love for you to revisit the topic and point out other details like that

[@Veepee92]

Technically speaking the b4 of Ultraphrygian is only a major third in 12-tone equal temperament; in all other tunings that support diatonic scales it would be indeed a distinct diminished fourth that cannot be used as a 5/4. Instead, one should probably treat it like a 9/7 or 13/10 or even some higher-limit interval (34/27, 24/19). I would find that to be even more interesting!

[@nightnoodler812]

Really like the G Ultraphrygian starting at 5:00, love those runs. The interchange of the dynamics, playing off each other, that was cool.

[@BonySopraneaux]

Ricky, baby… please keep teaching. Music needs you, we need you!

[@spanqueluv9er]

@BonySopraneaux His name is ^*Rick, not Ricky. Sit down.🤡🤡🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️💩🙄

[@RandalSmith]

Why am I hearing Keith Emerson all over this? This is unbelievably beautiful. Otherworldly. Never heard of Nahre Sol before, but I will be doing a deep dive into her music after hearing this.

[@crimfan]

She’s got a great channel herself. Excellent pianist.

[@vze2gsgr]

I thought the same, re: Keith Emerson. At other moments, it sounded like Schoenberg.

[@reasonsreasonably]

@@vze2gsgr I don’t hear Emerson myself. Have any examples of Keith’s work that exemplifies the similarity to this composition?

[@jonfobes8448]

You should really consider doing soundtrack music for film! If I can win three Emmys, you can certainly win three Oscars!

[@aaronsmith2611]

Listening to the composition, that's exactly what I was thinking. It sounds like a score for a movie.

[@rhesreeves5339]

Me 3

[@markyymarkXL]

Dude's recording Smithsonian worth interviews with legendary musicians, I think he'll be fine without an "Emmy".

[@cinders302]

Well, in spite of the silliness taking place in LaLa Land, I'm betting that Mr. Beato would still appreciate a Grammy or three. The fellow indicated that since he was capable of winning Emmys that RB is worthy of Grammys. It's a fair compliment.

[@africkinamerican]

I've been assuming he already does film score work.

[@TartempionLampion]

Could you please post the composition alone in a video? It's beautiful!

[@latheofheaven1017]

A piece co-written by Beato and Nahre Sol! Wonderful!

[@We-all-watched-the-video]

THIS is the rick beato I’ve missed!

[@mdmorris6193]

I love using the double harmonic major starting on D. Makes this really easy-to-visualise pattern on the keyboard.

[@thecarm27]

Videos with this type of information are among my favorite of what you do

[@weswill5]

I love Rick's interviews but this is the stuff I started following him for.

[@brianhalaburda]

Really good stuff here! Missed this kind of "early-Rick" videos but is nice to have a new one. Beautiful composition with Nahre Sol.

[@Avlis_music]

This is a beautiful piece that acts as an inspiration and a great resource with the transparency of the accompanying information. Next level stuff. You are at the cutting edge Rick Beato! What a legend.

[@TheMaxKids]

Glad to see these videos and your compositions again!

[@rhesreeves5339]

That was AWESOME! I love the tonalities of the different modes and can't wait to write with them.

[@Rondo2ooo]

Glad to see or hear a collaboration between two of my favorite music channels on YT since many years.

[@Dave-nm3xc]

I love these kinds of videos. Thank you Rick for sharing your knowledge.

[@davidhoxit4274]

Much needed refresher, thanks Rick

[@omaslo]

That's fantastic harmonies out there. Such a great compositions! Thank you for explanations Rick. Really appreciated!

[@magick1969]

Loved the arrangements and changes in tempo to highlight the scales and its many modes.

[@johnjulian8914]

Great video! Thank you for covering these! They seldom get taught, but SHOULD be. These are beautful!

[@jeffkelty6636]

Not just informative, but absolutely beautiful music. Thank you!

[@carlosmedinacifre]

Dear Mr. Rick Beato, this is one of my favourite lessons you've ever did. Thank you for discovering me this amazing new sonic palet and congratulations to Nahre Sol and to you for this great modal compositions you've done based on this scale combined with the beauty of the images.

[@martingravel1157]

Amazing vid, great piece. Thank you Rick and Nahre!

[@johnanello3352]

Love this video!! Love how you mentioned to modulate keys so you here the modes for the intervals they don't share. I was just trying to explain that to my brother in law as a student of guitar when teaching him the standard modes.

[@SeanClarkeMusic]

Such a magnificent composition & demonstration of applying the scale, wow 🙏✨ I'm inspired to explore!

[@skeletonbow]

Loved this Rick, great sounding scale, and great composition, very emotive!

[@ToneD5150]

This was very enjoyable to watch and listen! Very informative! Kudos Rick...!!!👍

[@x189player4]

My ears really appreciate these tonal areas - thank you Rick!!!

[@thormusique]

Bravo, beautifully rendered and exquisitely played! These kinds of fully fleshed examples are wonderful because they're much more illustrative of the 'world' of a particular scale than, say, simply noodling over a tonic drone. The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic variety gives a great sense of the breadth of possibilities. Cheers!

[@thedonrizzguitar]

Thank you for sharing, always appreciate your teaching videos 🙏🏼

[@woodreauxwoodreaux6298]

This piece was great. And doing it to demo all these semi-uncommon modes is a fantastic concept.

[@nicoladisvevia]

Totally wonderful: composition, playing, and video!

[@VariusSep]

I ❤this channel. Thank you Mr. Beato for sharing your musical knowledge and wisdom .

[@davidrees1840]

I love this stuff -thanks, and keep it coming!

[@fanir33]

Love this kind of videos!

[@giostroppa]

Great class, thank you! That's a lot of material to study and experiment.

[@PrashantSamlal]

I appreciate especially these videos Rick. Great material

[@timothykraft9245]

Great video pacing. Short, succinct, without too much background information.

[@raepaul8158]

Wonderful ! Thank you so much !

[@samseasmusic8933]

I have always loved the Hungarian minor. I have never thought of it as a mode of another scale so this was a treat! Such beautiful sounds. Mystery is deff the right description. Keep em' coming Rick. Love the channel!

[@RichardLacyMusic]

Rick did a great video on this about six years ago. Good to have another!

[@chrisrussoroos6091]

Awesome Rick - thank you- I will use this!

[@airmike._.]

A really useful and inspiring video Rick! Thank you.

[@nohjoh08]

Very nice! I loved that piece at the end!

[@jessejames5081]

This video and the Satriani /Vai interview are my absolute favorites that you've done. Love this video! And love the composition...WOW 🤯

[@prayerXtantra]

One of my favourite scales! So rich in dissonances❤

[@chrissterrmusic]

This was very inspiring. Thank you.

[@toddharrington8665]

Truly spectacular music. Thank you, Rick.

[@sizaiza]

Very nice composition you pulled of as usual Rick!

[@chameleon-dream-band-official]

I remember an older RB video on the DHM scale and it blew the doors open to my creativity. Wrote a song based on it. Hungarian minor is basically on my "must use" list when writing solos. From then, I've basically started to look into all the other parent scales (and their modes) and, man, what an complete shift in how I approach song writing. I will always be grateful to Rick for this.

[@alphabeets]

Gorgeous sound!

[@unmanifest6307]

This was excellent. Please more like this. I know it was fun as hell to compose that too

[@SuperLeica1]

Nice video. A great well of moods and sentiments, possible to use in arrangements and compositions. Thanks!

[@robertmaccreight4910]

The variety that you can get out of these scales are amazing.

[@scillyautomatic]

Thanks for getting back to teaching!

[@davidraiklen4521]

Incredible composition, stunning performance, and gorgeous video! Nahre Sol is an amazing virtuoso. The many faces of these modes are well illustrated too. This should be on your main channel also, real art. Thank you.

[@gazmo88]

These sounds have haunted me for years, viz Ralph Towner "Oregon Crossing" not to mention countless film sound tracks. I could obviously play them but now I know whats going on !! Thank you very much - months of enjoyment ahead.

[@GeneSchmidt]

This is so insanely cool! Thank you!

[@madeline906]

I'm so glad I found this video. I love unique and odd scales, and as a guitar player I want to incorporate more of the unusual to try and come up with new stuff.... buuuuut knowing of these odd things is the problem. Thank you for doing these types of videos!!! I'm not sure how I would've found out about these and learned they were all connected to the one scale/mode.

[@ronvillarreal5003]

In college we called the first scale with the two augmented 2nd intervals a "gypsy minor".

[@jondhuse1549]

That's what the Django Reinhardt-style guitarist John Jorgenson called it, too.

[@joewoodhead2712]

Brilliant my man. I was searching the Internet for references to this scale a few weeks ago and I struggled to find anything... Such a beautiful scale with so much potential and mystery. I've been trying to incorporate it into Jams with my band using Indian instruments and percussion

[@joshevans4322]

Sounds good. Good work!

[@LouieTaylorMusic]

Be really cool to see a score for the composition. Awesome video, Rick.

[@vicsardou9654]

Thank you, RIck and Nahre!

[@cristijan3844]

A great enjoyable way to expand musical hearing, explore sounds.

[@jonbirmingham6005]

Loved this!

[@green_footballs]

Great stuff, man. Great stuff.

[@prayerXtantra]

Thank you for revealing the secrets of the universe one mode at a time. Forever in your debt❤. Beautiful composition man.

[@KennethGonzalez]

I love that you had @NahreSol as a collaborator on this! Super cool 👍😁

[@MatthewMartinGuitar]

Love the unsolved mysteries thumbnail!! Great lesson as always, Rick

[@davidmcleandamrecordings3673]

Well done and very interesting

[@ChristopherJWalton]

Excellent video

[@bethgleason7183]

Man, oh Man, this is fantastic. Thank you.

[@MHale-]

Beautiful piece of work, I going to have a blast transcribing this with the gd ole 7string. I let u in once I git it where I’m happy with it myself, so u never see it ever! lol. Thanks brother. This is better thought teaching then anything I seen before.

[@SamTahbou]

Thank you, So Nahre was involved too, didn't realize it before getting to the second half

[@conradgittins4476]

Very nicely played by Nahre Sol.

[@TheEnderBand]

I always really enjoyed what I believe is called the Byzantine scale- I really like how it's kind of a mirror image of itself going up to the octave and how a lot of the shapes look because of that symmetry. I use it all the time- my favorite "exotic" scale

[@user-by6eb6zo7g]

I haven't clicked on a Rick Video in a very long time, but I saw the title and was happy to see some theory application and exploring sounds.

[@chromaticnomadic]

Darn, Rick this is cool and very informal. One can understand how a composer makes this sort of music when you also understand the modal structures

[@alanwells-jeaupe]

Nice dude! That was very cool.

[@avishaid]

Thanks for the video Rick, the Double harmonic major scale is identical to an Indian raga called Bhairav if I am not mistaken. Love it!

[@williamrobinson7435]

I remember this too, as Bhirava I believe. 🎶🌟👍

[@AlexRG8]

Love it. Great inspiration to do ominous intros. Much appreciated, Alex in Stockholm.

[@samwebber3109]

the examples are crazy good

[@LSLS1]

5:01 This absolutely should be implemented in some Dream Theater song

[@brianmcconkey1212]

Thank you Rick 🎹😎👍

[@davidrichards1302]

Informative. Practical. Concise (respectful of time). Illuminating. Exemplary pedagogy.

[@trollstjerne]

More of this Rick

[@FlyingsCool]

Wow Rick... Thanks!

[@johncrisman3400]

This takes me back to my childhood of 70s-era made for TV Movie of the Week suspense/horror/mystery/psychological thrillers. I hope that I can see/hear more new theory and application videos, though I can understand and respect that the reaction and commentary videos pay the bills.