D Persian — Plectrum Banjo

D Persian is 7 notes to the octave (world family), drawn here across the Plectrum Banjo's CGBD strings with every D marked, so home stays visible from anywhere in the pattern.

Intensely exotic — two half-step clusters (b2 against the root, b5 against the 4) and a raised 7th make it the most dramatic of the world scales. Mysterious, ornate, and tense.

Heard in: Persian and Middle-Eastern-flavored melodies, film scoring for desert and ancient settings, and exotic metal and progressive-rock riffs.

The long neck puts the same note in more places than four strings usually offer, so these maps show the whole CGBD field and leave the choice of route to you.

Run it against a click at a tempo where every note gets the same weight. On a banjo an uneven scale is audible immediately — the instrument gives you no sustain to hide behind.