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Other
Scales - The Half Step/Whole Step Diminished Scale
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Published
October 13th, 2003. © Chris Juergensen/chrisjuergensen.com.
All Rights Reserved.
This
lesson has been revised and published in THE
INFINITE GUITAR. Info
>>>
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The
Half Step/Whole Step Diminished Scale - The
half/whole diminished scale is what we call a
symmetrical scale, meaning it is based on a repeating
pattern of specific intervals. In the case of
this scale, a 1/2 step interval followed by a
whole step interval.
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The
half/whole
diminished scale
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| Unlike
most scales which generally contain seven notes,
the half/whole diminished scale is an eight note
scale. Examine the scale and the intervals within
it below: |
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| Basically
there are two scales that are used for improvising
over and harmonizing altered dominant chords. One
being, the subject of this lesson, the half/whole
diminished scale and the other, the altered scale
(the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale). Let's
take a look at and compare the two of them: |
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Half/whole
diminished scale
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Altered
scale
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| By
comparing them you will find that while both scales
offer the raised and lowered 9ths, only the half/whole
diminished scale contains a 13th. As a trade off
for the 13th, the altered scale offers both the
raised and lowered 5ths. |
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| Before
we move on to applying the half/whole diminished
scale over the appropriate chords, make yourself
familiar with it: |
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| Because
of the half/whole diminished scale's symmetrical
structure, by remembering one pattern of the scale,
you are actually remembering four. You can play
any pattern of the scale up or down a minor 3rd
and still be playing the same diminished scale.
Let's take the last pattern we just learned and
move it down a minor 3rd. It is still a C half/whole
diminished scale: |
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| By
looking at the complete half/whole diminished scale
diagram below you can see that it is the same pattern
repeated over and over again: |
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Harmonizing
the half/whole diminished scale
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| As
you can see below, the 7th chord that this scale
makes is a simple dominant 7th chord but what makes
the diminished half/whole scale special is the extensions
it creates for the chord. If we add in the 9ths,
we get the option of adding either a b9 or a #9
or both. We also have the option of a #11th (or
if you think enharmonically, a b5th). The altered
scale will also give the same three extension options
but the one extension that the altered scale will
not give you is the natural 13th. The only scale
that gives you both the altered 9ths plus a natural
13th is the diminished half/whole scale. Chords
created by this scale (C diminished half/whole):
C7, C7b5, C13, C7#9, C7b9, C7, C7(b5,#9), C7(b5,b9),
C7(b9,#9), C13(b9), C13(#9), etc.. |
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| These
are some of the more common 6th string root chord
voicings that come from the diminished half/whole
scale: |
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some of the more uncommon voicings: |
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course a simple C7#9 or C7b9 chord work fine with
this scale. Just be aware that no natural 9ths or
augmented 5th are found anywhere in any chords constructed
from this scale. |
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Chord
Shapes and the "min 3rd." Trick
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| As
I said before, Since the half/whole diminished scale
is a symmetrical scale, any scale shape, pattern
or phrase can be move up or down in minor 3rds and
still work. The same can be done with chord shapes.
The C7#9 chord below is a fairly typical voicing.
I included the root for reference although you don't
need to play it. If you want to play it, you will
have to play it with your thumb. We can take this
shape and... |
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Move
it up in minor 3rds to create some different chords.
You can use this technique to make a simple V
- I chord progression more interesting. Play the
four separate C dominant voicings on the strong
beats in the first measure before resolving to
the fmin chord. The bass player should be playing
a C bass note throughout the whole process, you'll
be playing the top of the chords:
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Voicing:
3-b7-#9-5
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Voicing
: 5-b9-#11-b7
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Voicing:
b7-3-13-b9
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Voicing:
b9-5-1-3
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Voicing: 9-b3-5-1
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thing with this super standard C7#9 voicing... |
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| Move
the identical shape minor 3rds apart and you'll
get yourself four separate voicings that all function
as some kind of diminished harmony dominant chord: |
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Voicing:
#11-b7-3-13
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Voicing:
13-b9-5-1
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Voicing:
1-3-b7-#9
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Voicing:
#9-5-b9-#11
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Voicing: b7-b3-11-9
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| If
you had two bars of the C7 chord to play chords
over, you could combine the previous two ideas to
get this: |
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Creating
lines using the half/whole diminished scale
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| The
half/whole diminished scale has a very angular sound.
I like to create lines using both wide and neighboring
intervals: |
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structure of the scale, for better or worse, allows
you to create very mathematical sequences: |
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Hate
to repeat myself again but: because of the symmetrical
structure of the scale, we can take any phrase
and move it up or down in minor 3rds. First learn
the line below....
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took the same line and expanded it by using the
minor 3rd technique. Notice how I took the phrase
in the first bracket and transposed it up a minor
3rd to make the phrase in the second bracket. You
can do this kind of thing indefinitely with this
scale: |
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Applications
of the half/whole diminished scale
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will find that the half/whole diminished scale looks
and sounds similar to the blues scale. For this
reason it works well over a simple dominant vamp.
You can create interesting effects by trading between
the two. Play the blues scale over the following
C7#9 vamp and step out by using the half/whole diminished
scale. John Scofield is a master of this technique.
Check out his classic tune, "Techno" from
his "Still Warm" CD. |
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half/whole diminished scale also works well over
the V chord in a ii - V - I chord progression. Just
remember: no #5s are allowed in the chord if you
want to use this scale. For the progression below,
use a G dorian scale (F major) over the G min9 chord,
a C half/whole diminished scale over the C13b9 chord
and a F lydian scale (C major) over the F69 chord: |
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