im a guitarist and found that playing without the root of any V7alt chord allows for a more solid sound , the scale will sound sick by itself, need to resolve it to a non altered chord/scale a 4th higher, although im sure there are exceptions but thats my aproach.

It comes a little clearer if you build that scale off B natural. then you get B.C.D.Eb.F.G.A.B.C, basically an ascending C melodic minor scale, but starting on the seventh. That's why your ears want to take you to the second degree, ie the C you're used to hearing the scale end on. A 7alt does sound weird by itself, but in context it sounds perfectly natural. It often occurs as IIdim,V7alt,I(min)

Jdub, your ears are actually hearing some good things . . . the theory works. Let’s look at your note choices . . . you say that you are hearing the notes of a Bbm7(b5) chord over a C+7ALT, being Bb, Db, E (enhmonically Fb if you are spelling the Bbm7(b5) correctly), and Ab (enharmonically G# in the context of the C+7ALT) . . . what you have here are the b7, b9, 3, and #5 of your C+7ALT, all important notes of your chord. The 3 and b7 are the tritone of the chord creating the basic tension, the #5 gives the chord the augmented quality, and the b9 (with your added Eb enh. D# being the #9) give you the added flavor of altered upper structure of the chord. So essentially your ears are gravitating to the right things. To answer your question about why you are hearing notes centered around a Db, allow me to expand upon something that Tranesyadaddy has already mentioned: the relation of the melodic minor scale to your altered chord. Let’s look at a melodic minor scale built a half step above the root of your altered chord, on Db: Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb C Now let’s respell some of these enharmonically: Db D# E F# G# Bb C Now let’s analyze how these notes relate to your altered chord: b9 #9 3 #11 #5 b7 R Every single note of the Db melodic minor scale happens to be a chord tone of your C+7ALT. What this means is that you can sustain any of those notes over that chord and any of those notes will sound “inside” the chord. On the grander scale, this also means that for any altered dominant, you can go up a half step and play melodic minor, and all the notes will work. This is the “superlocrian concept,” meaning that for the altered dominant, you can use the notes of the 7th mode of melodic minor, in this particular case: C Db D# E F# G# Bb C There are some theorists who refer to this scale as “diminished whole tone” due to the half step/whole step quality of the lower tetrachord (the first 4 notes) and the whole tone quality of the upper tetrachord (the last 4 notes), but in reality, it’s just the 7th mode of melodic minor. That’s the basic theory behind it, but that by itself won’t allow your ideas to flow; you need to know how to resolve the tones of your altered dominant effectively in an improvised line. The simplest way is as follows: Let’s say you are using this altered dominant in traditional fashion, being a V to I progression, in this case, C+7ALT resolving to F or one of its variations (FMA7, FMA9, etc.) . . . The root of the C+7ALT, C, can remain the same over the FMA7, or resolve down to A (3 of your I chord) or F (R of your I chord). The b9 of the C+7ALT, Db, should resolve down to C, the 5 of your FMA7. The #9 of the C+7ALT, D#, can resolve up to E, the 7 of your FMA7, down to C, the 5 of your FMA7, or down to D, the 13 of your I chord. The 3 of the C+7ALT, E, ideally should resolve up to F, the R of your I chord, but can remain the same as the 7 of a FMA7. The #11 of the C+7ALT, F#, can resolve up to G, the 9 of your FMA9, or down to F, the R of the I chord. The #5 of the C+7ALT, G#, ideally should resolve up to A, the 3 of your I chord, but can resolve down to G, the 9 of your FMA9 chord. The b7 of the C+7ALT, Bb should resolve down to A, the 3 of your I chord. My friend Bruce Eskovitz presented a treatise at IAJE a few years ago entitled “How to Unlock the Mystery of the Altered Dominant Chord” and has posted it on his website. Here is the link: www.bruceeskovitz.com/alt.htm Give it a read . . . there’s lots of good stuff in it . . . Best of luck to you, and happy practicing!