Double-Symmetrical Augmented Scale for Jazz Improvisation

With content ranging from theory and history to practical exercises, examples, études, and play-along tracks, this book offers the most comprehensive guide ever written for this esoteric and traditionally obscure scale. Simply put, it reveals the last big secret of jazz fusion’s avant-garde.


According to which music theorist believes he first discovered it, this scale has been known variously as Messiaen’s mode 3, Slonimsky’s Tcherepnin Scale (honoring his colleague), and Tcherepnin’s own name for it— the 9-note augmented or nonatonic scale.


The nine notes of the double-symmetrical augmented scale have fascinated and crucially influenced legendary musicians like John Coltrane, Allan Holdsworth, Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Nelson Veras, Tim Miller, Gary Thomas, and Jerry Bergonzi, among many others.


Coltrane’s historic composition, “Giant Steps,” can be directly attributed to his familiarity with the nonatonic scale. With this book by Berklee College of Music honors graduate, Xabier Oró, you’ll know the secret too.

Includes access to online audio.