E♭ Dorian scale on guitar

The E♭ Dorian scale has 7 notes: E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭, C and D♭. A minor scale with a raised 6th. That one note makes it brighter and jazzier than natural minor; it is common in funk, jazz, rock jams and folk.

Open in the interactive fretboard

Notes in E♭ Dorian

Formula
1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7
Step pattern
W – H – W – W – W – H – W
Notes
7

Tap a note to hear it.

E♭ Dorian across the neck

open123456789101112FG♭A♭B♭CD♭E♭B♭CD♭E♭FG♭A♭E♭FG♭A♭B♭CD♭A♭B♭CD♭E♭FG♭CD♭E♭FG♭A♭B♭FG♭A♭B♭CD♭E♭

Every E♭ Dorian note on the first 12 frets in standard tuning. Filled dots are the root, E♭. A good place to start: E♭ on the A string is at fret 6, so play the notes between frets 5 and 9 first, then move up the neck.

Intervals

DegreeNoteInterval from E♭
1E♭Root
2FMajor 2nd
♭3G♭Minor 3rd
4A♭Perfect 4th
5B♭Perfect 5th
6CMajor 6th
♭7D♭Minor 7th

Chords in E♭ Dorian

Stack every other note of the scale and you get these triads. Any of them will sound “at home” with the E♭ Dorian scale.

H = half step (1 fret), W = whole step (2 frets). Roman numerals: uppercase is major, lowercase is minor, ° is diminished, + is augmented.

Related scales

Questions

What notes are in the E♭ Dorian scale?

E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭, C, D♭. Its formula is 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7.

Where do I start the E♭ Dorian scale on guitar?

E♭ on the A string is at fret 6, so play the notes between frets 5 and 9 first. The fretboard map on this page shows every E♭ Dorian note on the first 12 frets.

What scales are related to E♭ Dorian?

It has the same notes as D♭ major, starting from that scale’s 2nd note.

More scales

Dorian in every key

Other scales from E♭

Open the scale toolChord library