Learning The Whole Tone Scale
The whole tone scale is a much ignored scale by guitarists for many of the following reasons:
- It’s hard to hear.
- It’s odd to finger.
- It’s difficult to understand how to use.
- It sounds weird.
In the following lesson, Ged Brockie demonstrates and demystifies the whole tone scale and also reveals a number one world wide hit where this often overlooked scale was used.
|
WHOLE TONE SCALE UNDERSTANDING, LEARNING, PLAYING
Have you ever shied away from playing the whole tone scale? It’s understandable. It’s kind of out on a limb. One of the problems for guitar players is that the whole tone scale seems quite obtuse. That is, how do you use it? It also sounds quite odd to people that have never been exposed to it before. So, why does the whole tone scale not sound like other guitar scales?
The main reason is that the scale has no semi-tones to it’s structure. As the name suggests, the whole tone scale is constructed purely from whole steps (2 frets). This means that it also has less notes than most of the other scales you use. The major scale, harmonic minor scale and melodic minor scale all have seven different notes and an eighth note that repeats the first. In the case of the this scale, it only has seven notes. The seventh note repeats the first note.
The other important thing to remember is that there are only two whole tone scales!
SCALE 1 = C – D – E – F# – G# – A# – C
SCALE 2 = C# – D# – F – G – A – B – C#
These two scales can be named after any of the notes that exist within them. All the scales within any one scale equals the other scales. This is a crucially important point to understand. You will be using these scales and see how this works in later lessons.
DOWNLOAD THE TOTALLY FREE LESSON PDF
The lesson PDF is a great place to start if you are ready for the challenge.
