In Deep With.. The Whole Tone Scale (+ TUNEICEF plug & update)

Ploughing through the new tasks I'veset myself for this year, September has brought me to the whole tone scale – this is arguably one of the core tonalities, alongside major, minor and chromatic. As it's name suggests, this is a symmetrical scale with each note a whole tone away from the next.

Viewed as a series of intervals, this gives us:

R – tone – 2 – tone – 3 – tone - #4/b5 – b6 – b7

This is a hexatonic (six note) scale combining elements of both major and minor tonalities, and the resulting sound is eerie – very cinematic. Examining it, it's possible to see that this scale has no modes – it's symmetrical nature, with each note a tone apart from every other note, means that no matter where you start it from, you will always have the whole tone structure.

Another curiosity is that there are in fact only two whole tone scales: the E, F#, G#, Bb, C and D whole tones are all exactly the same as each other, as are the F, G, A, B, C# and Eb:

E – tone – F# - tone - G# - tone - Bb – tone – C – tone – D

F# – tone - G# – tone - Bb – tone - C – tone - D – tone – E

G# – tone - Bb – tone - C – tone - D – tone - E – tone – F#

.. and so on.

Viewed from a chordal perspective, there's only one type of chord that really lends itself to the whole tone scale – the augmented. No matter where you start from, you wind up with the pattern:

Root – two tones – 3 – two tones - #5

E – G# - C E augmented

F# - A# - D F# augmented

G# - C – E G# augmented

A# - D – F# A# augmented

C – E – G# C augmented

D- A# - F# D augmented

The symmetrical nature of this scale makes it very easy to map it across the fretboard using a simple movable pattern:

Here using a speedy legato six note pattern:

Played in 3rds:

Sequenced in 3s:

Sequenced in 4s:

This scale is a nice gear to change to when you want something flat out weird, containing major and minor elements, with the unsettling symmetrical elements jarring the listener out of their comfort zone.

TUNEICEF 2018

It's that time of year again – leaves are falling from the trees, the temperatures are beginning to fall.. and my students and I are embarking on the annual charity album! So far we've had a track donated by the fantastic singer/songwriter Phil Matthews (aka The Village: https://www.thevillage.me.uk/ ) and the first student track by Paul Blount is up on our Bandcamp page with a good few more hot on it's heels!

If you want to get involved and help raise funds for UNICEF (not to mention get your hands on a rather tasty little album), check out our Bandcamp page: https://tuneicef.bandcamp.com/album/tuneicef-2018

and our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TUNEICEF/ - like, share, subscribe, and if you've got a track you'd like to contribute then welcome aboard, the more the merrier!