Whole Tone Scale

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Andrew Producer Joined: 05 Jun 2005 Posts: 325 Location: Texas Whole Tone Scale     Tired of your usual scales? Want something new? Well, here's something that has kept Robert Fripp (King Crimson) busy for a while, the whole tone scale. Here's an example in E: E |----------------------------|-------------------------------| B |----------------------------|-------------------------------| G |----------------------------|-------------------------------| D |----------------------------|-------------------------------| A |----------------------------|-------------------------------| E |-0--2--4--6--8--10--12----|-------------------------------| Of course, you can play it all over the neck, as well. It's kind of a strange scale, especially in that it doesn't have the typical perfect 5th interval or perfect 4th, but rather a "devils note" instead. This is the same as a raised 4th or flatted 5th, but these intervalic terms don't really apply to this scale since it is based on 6 notes per octave instead of the classic 7 that all the modal scales have (major, minor, dorian, mixolydian, etc.) As mentioned before King Crimson has used this scale for complete songs, and has been utilized also popular composers like Claude Debussy. Click the following link to hear this scale... http://www.teoria.com/reference/scales/14.htm Try it out on your axe and see what you think... Tue Nov 08, 2005 5:20 pm

Orest Dziatyk First Time Poster Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Chicago I agree the whole tone scale is totally hip,& can be used to create some cool tension; like over an altered Dominant chord. Orest Sun Dec 03, 2006 4:58 am

Paul Tauterouff Jammer Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 51 Location: Binghamton, NY It's definitely a strange sound. I haven't done much with it myself. _________________ Thanks, Paul Tauterouff http://paultauterouff.com http://myspace.com/paultauterouff Sun Dec 03, 2006 2:21 pm

Ryan Buckner Jammer Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 41 Location: Oklahoma City, OK I think using the whole tone scale opens up many different pathways of tonality. Considering that there aren't any semi tones/ half steps, the scale never really has a tonic to go to. Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:19 am

Nick Layton Jammer Joined: 14 Nov 2006 Posts: 37 Location: CA Sounds very bizarre to me, but is a cool sound to break up all the diatonic monotony from time to time. _________________ http://www.nicklayton.com Tue Dec 12, 2006 3:25 pm

Jonathan Vipond Jammer Joined: 19 Nov 2006 Posts: 41 I Love it! I don't know how to use it much when applied to everyday theory but as there are only 2 possible scales (i.e. only 2 selections of notes that really constitute a scale) I like to create interesting tonal effects by swapping between the two. Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:43 pm

stephenlyrical Member Joined: 14 Nov 2006 Posts: 25 Thanks,     Thanks for the info and the link. Cool Stephen Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:44 pm

Lee Carlson Jammer Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 41 Location: Alberta Canada Frank Zappa I believe used the whole tone scale a lot. I usually used it over Dom7b5 or #5, actually I am not sure what other chords it would work over? _________________ www.leecarlsonmusic.com Sat Mar 24, 2007 3:00 pm

Ian Hand Roadie Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 13 Location: UK The Whole-tone scale is also sometimes called the 'Augmented scale' -although I've seen other scales called the 'Augmented scale' so I'm not sure what's going on there. Robert Fripp also uses the Diminished scale (Tone - semi tone - Tone - semi tone - Tone - semi tone - Tone - semi tone) which is also great for very strange riffs and solos. Sun Mar 25, 2007 1:25 pm

Lee Carlson Jammer Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 41 Location: Alberta Canada The Augmented scale is slightly different . It consists of an augmented triad 1 3 #5 with a note a half step below each, thus spelling another augmented triad. In the augmented scale the chords built can be either Major or Minor. Eg: A augmented A C C# E F G# A you can see by looking at scale tones that the chords available are quite interesting. AM(7), Am(M7), Aaug triad etc. Of course some scale degrees will sound very outside, but that I guess is the cool part. Hope I got that all right, please let me know if I totally missed it! _________________ www.leecarlsonmusic.com Sun Mar 25, 2007 2:49 pm

Ian Hand Roadie Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 13 Location: UK Thanks Lee I've just done some more poking around and discovered that the whole tone scale is also called the 'Auxilliary Augmented' scale and not just the 'Augmented' scale as I first thought. DOH!!! As you quite rightly pointed out this is a totally different scale. Thanks for your explaination but you seem to have an E note in your spelling of the augmented scale in A instead of a D# note: 1,#2,3,#4,#5,7 A, C,C#,D#,F,G# http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales.php?qqq=3&scch=A&scchnam=Augmented&get2=Get Music Theoy ahhhhhh!!!!! Sun Mar 25, 2007 10:16 pm

Tim Giddens Member Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 20 I forgot all about this. Thanks for the reminder. Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:57 pm

gdw3 New Member Joined: 14 Apr 2007 Posts: 4 Location: North Hollywood, CA Hi all. New to the forum.... Here's something to try w/ the whole tone scale. It's a cool sound. Play the WT scale over a minor 7th chord, beginning the scale 1/2 step above the root of the chord. So, if you're playing over Amin7, play a Bb WT scale. It has several of the same chord tones, but a real nice outside sound. _________________ I can never think of anything clever to say in these darn sig lines.... Ohhh, the pressure.... Oh, just forget it. Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:41 am

Tim Giddens Member Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 20 I'll give it a try Sun Apr 15, 2007 1:14 pm

Andrew Producer Joined: 05 Jun 2005 Posts: 325 Location: Texas Here's a couple of examples to let you hear whole tone in action. Playing it slower captures more of the feel, but these examples are pretty fast so listen closely. Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:53 pm

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