There are lots of different types of scales in music. It’s a very distinctive sound that creates a blurred and eerie sound. Tip: You can find a scale by typing in its notes seperated by commas e.g. Whole Tone Scales. When descending, you simply use the tones of the natural or pure minor scale. The scale formula is W-W-W-W-W where “W” stands for whole tone. The formula for a melodic minor scale is whole step – half step – whole step – whole step – whole step – whole step – half step. D Whole-tone scale . In this post we’re going to look at the very unique scale that has only six notes – the whole tone scale. WHOLE TONE SCALE It is important to remember that there are only two whole tone scales; C (C- D - E - F# - G# - A#) and D flat (Db - Eb - F - G - A - B). Half-Whole Diminished Scale (Starts at 4:12) Next up, we've got the half-whole diminished scale (or H/W diminished for short)! E Whole-tone scale . Major and minor scales consists of 7 notes, while pentatonic scales are made of 5 notes. Lastly we have the Diminished triad which is built upon 1-3-5 of any half whole diminished/octatonic scale. A Whole-Tone Scale is a scale made entirely of whole-steps and has only six notes. or 1-3-5 of any whole half diminished/octatonic scale, or 1-3-5 of any locrian mode. Just six notes in the octave. Because there are no semitones, all thirds are major, and thus all triads are augmented. What Are Major and Minor 7ths and How Are They Formed? T = Tone [whole step] • S = Semitone [half step] • TS = Tone + Semitone (minor 3rd interval) A very well known example of a song that uses the whole tone scale is Stevie Wonder’s You Are The Sunshine Of My Life. There are 2 semitones and 5 whole steps. We’ve already covered the whole tone scale in a previous post but here’s a quick refresher: Whole Tone Scale Review. Here is the scale ‘formula’ for the major scale: Major scale formula. C Whole-tone scale . Diatonic means that the scale has five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in the octave. It’s the completely opposite of a chromatic scale – which is made up entirely of half step intervals (semitones). The Major Scale Formula: Lesson 1 Music Theory - … The hexatonic scale, or whole-tone scale, is a scale formed by the sequence: tone – tone – tone – tone – tone – tone – tone.. No wonder it is called “whole-tone scale”, right?! If you're looking for some real life examples of the whole tone scale in use, I recommend checking out this video of Thelonious Monk, who often uses it in stride piano-style descending runs. Posted by Komponist. Welcome to Hello Music Theory! It’s made up entirely of whole step intervals (tones). Every note in the whole tone scale can act as the tonic of the scale. The whole tone scale is a scale that is made up of all whole movements. A whole tone is the same as two steps on the keyboard – a half tone is consequently one step. C-sharp Whole-tone scale . Our music teachers rate the top online piano courses. The formula describes the interval distances between each note of the scale. Required fields are marked *. Whole tone scale = W-W-W-W-W-W (2-2-2-2-2-2) Whole-Half Diminished = W-H-W-H-W-H-W-H (2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1) Half-Whole Diminished = H-W-H-W-H-W-H-W (1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2) The sound of a whole tone scale is often described as "dreamlike.". chord. Major and minor scales consists of 7 notes, while pentatonic scales are made of 5 notes. Also, note that this scale has 6 notes, so the name “hexa” also makes sense! The Whole Tone scale is a hexatonic (6 note) scale where each interval is a whole tone apart, so its intervallic formula would be WWWWWW. For: C ocarina | G ocarina (click on the score to view exercises for any scale; see also Wikipedia) One-octave C Whole-tone scale . If you’re looking for a new scale to play around with when improvising or composing then the whole tone scale is great fun and has a very unique sound. Or in tones and semitones it would be: T – T – T – T – T – T (tones). H represents a ‘half tone’ or one fret distance on your guitar. A whole tone scale (sometimes known as the symmetrical scale) is a hexatonic scalewhich means that it uses only six notes. If you start a scale on a different note, you are still playing the same notes as the C and Db whole tone scales but in a different order. This stands for whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step half step. It is often used in romantic and jazz music. This type of scale is used in Romantic music as well as jazz music; for example, the music of Thelonius Monk. A whole tone scale (sometimes known as the symmetrical scale) is a hexatonic scale which means that it uses only six notes. Many scales are diatonic including major, minor (the harmonic minor is an exception) and modal scales. Your email address will not be published. The whole tone scale formula: W – W – W – W – W – W There are only 2 whole tone scales: C, D: C whole tone scale: C – D – E – F♯ – G♯ – A♯ D whole tone scale: D♭ – E♭ – F – G – A – B However, the whole tone scale has 6 notes that are all a whole step apart, making its intervallic formula easy to remember - W-W-W-W-W-W. This is a very particular scale, find more about it with reading the whole-tone scale tutorial.. On this page, you find several fretboard diagrams for the Whole-Tone scale, with box and 3 notes per string patterns. Today, we’ll be dissecting the whole tone scale. E-flat Whole-tone scale . II-DMb6. The V chord G7 has the ability to accommodate many different weird and wonderful scales, notably the diminished, altered and whole tone scales. F Whole Tone for guitar. III- 10 Important Composers of the Renaissance Era, 10 Important Composers of the Medieval Period. What is the formula for the C whole tone scale. Unlike the many different types of diatonic scales which centre around a certain key there are only two whole tone scales: You can start a whole tone scale on any note from C whole tone scale and you’ll be playing the same notes, and vice versa, you can start a whole tone scale on any note from Db whole tone scale and you’ll be playing the same notes: C whole tone scale uses these notes: C – D – E – F# – G# – A# and C, Db whole tone scale uses these notes: Db – Eb – F – G -A – B – Db. Chords What chords (diatonic) are in the C whole tone scale. The whole tone scale is a hexatonic (6 note) scale that seems to break the Western harmony relationship between tension and resolution. Formula: 1/root, 2 whole steps up, 2 whole steps up. G Whole-tone scale . The whole tone scale has six notes. First of all, what's a major scale? C whole tone scale = C-D-E-F#-G#-A#. Thanks for stopping by and if you have any questions get in touch! Rare Musical Keys and Unused Key Signatures, Introduction to Major and Minor Piano Scales, What Is a Riff: All About the Musical Phrase. Root Note. Intervals What intervals are in the C whole tone scale. F-sharp Whole-tone scale . It's made up of whole steps and half steps. I'd like to look at chromatic, whole tone, and pentatonic scales. © Hello Music Theory 2020 | All rights reserved | Sitemap. It’s made up entirely of whole step intervals (tones). The number inside the dot indicates the finger and the roman numeral indicates the fret. Your email address will not be published. There is also a type of scale that has six notes and all of them are a tone apart called a whole tone scale. It's a succession of notes that goes from the root (Duane playing piano) to the octave. Another great example is Four in One by Thelonious Monk. G Whole Tone Scale Fingerings. Download my free eBook with all my favourite music theory resources. Most of the ones that you’re probably familiar with have seven notes, others have five, some even have twelve. So to figure out the C Major Scale we take the formula W W H W W W H starting on C. The ROOT is shown by the red dot. Espie Estrella is a lyricist, songwriter, and member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International. Before print or download please save it first. Whole tone scales are quite rare in music but there are some examples that are worth checking out. You’ll hear it in the first 10 seconds of the intro with its distinctive sound. Whole Tone Scale As the shrewd readers amongst you will have been able to guess from the name, the Whole Tone scale is a scale in which all notes are separated by an interval of...wait for it...a Whole Tone! W - W - H - W - W - W - H. Using this formula, say we wanted to figure out the C major scale. This interesting piece from Debussy I think is one of the best examples of the whole tone scale in classical music. After all, all notes are 1 tone’s distance from each other. The Whole-Tone Scale scale is composed of the Root, Major Second, Major Third, Augmented Fourth, Augmented Fifth, and Minor Seventh You can also look at the scale as two augmented triads separated by a whole tone. It is all tension, and never seems to resolve to any specific note. As we’ve seen, the half steps are the semitones and the whole steps are the whole tones. What Are Diminished and Augmented Triads? Two mutually exclusive whole-tone scales are formed by choosing alternate notes of the chromatic scale (which has 12 notes per octave).Thus, the whole-tone scale comprises six degrees per octave. The interval formula of a whole tone scale is: W – W – W – W – W – W(whole steps). The Whole Tone scale exists with two sets of notes: C - D - E - F# - G# - Bb (shown above) C# - D# - F - G - A - B This is because there is no leading note in a whole tone scale, since it can be played … I-C augmented. The interval formula of a whole tone scale is: W – W – W – W – W – W (whole steps). He graduated from The Royal Academy of Music in 2012 and then launched Hello Music Theory in 2014. (C, E, G) F whole tone Scale Below you can find guitar and piano scale diagrams, notes, intervals, formulas, and chords Whole Tone Scale. Major 2nd. This is a so-called symmetrical scale, meaning that the interval is the same throughout the scale. Here is a simplified example of Stevie Wonder using the scale in the introduction to his song “You Are the Sunshine of my Life” (the first half is … For more info on building a whole tone scale check this video below. Tones and Semitones in a Minor Scale 2M - 2M - 2M - 2M - 3d - 2M. Overview of Pentatonic Scales in Music Theory. It’s the completely opposite of a chromatic scale– which is made up entirely of half step intervals (semitones). In this formula W represents a ‘whole tone’ or two frets distance on your guitar. The pattern for a whole-tone scale is easy to remember because it consists only of whole-steps (W): W-W-W-W-W-W. A whole-tone scale starting on D-flat: Learn about more Scales. F Whole-tone scale . It is a symmetrical scale in that it follows a distinct pattern of steps, those being all whole steps from tonic to tonic, this poses a problem as there can only be a total of six whole steps within the twelve notes we have, so the seventh degree is left out all together making a six note scale. If you have any questions that weren’t covered in this post just leave a comment below. Or in tones and semitones it would be: T – T – T – T – T – T… C Augmented Triad = C-E-G#. Below is the C whole tone scale: In between all scale tones is the distance of a whole tone. The scale formula for the Whole Tone scale - the name kinda gives it away right - a series of tones. The Whole Tone Scale (a.k.a. All other scales use this formula, however some numbers may be altered depending on the scales relationship to the major scale. This is what the whole tone formula looks like.Whole-Whole-Whole-Whole-Whole-Whole-Whole. Minor 7th. This means that you are going to start on any note on the piano and them move seven whole tones. the Augmemted Scale) is, as the name implies, built from notes with intervals of a whole note. This is best demonstrated when we get to minor scales later. I’m Dan and I run this website. This type of scale is used in Romantic music as well as jazz music; for example, the music of Thelonius Monk. Notice how each scale doesn’t use any notes from the other. Since then he's been working to make music theory easy for over 1 million students in over 80 countries around the world. Its name is derived from the whole tone distance between its scale tones. If you made any changes to your settings. Whole tone runs have a dream like quality, particularly because the triads built on whole scale tones would be augmented (First, Third and sharpened or augmented Fifth). However, the whole tone scale has 6 notes that are all a whole step apart, making its intervallic formula easy to remember - W-W-W-W-W-W. The example below is creating a major scale starting at the key of A. A major scale is formed with the formula W-W-H-W-W-W-H. Major Scale As a Diatonic Scale . chord. Whole-tone scale, all keys. or 1-b3-b5 of any major scale, or 1-3-b5 of any minor scale, A major scale is considered a diatonic scale. It really shows how versatile the whole tone scale is being able to be used to create completely unique compositions across so many genres of music! The image below shows the whole tone scale in the key of C How to play the whole tone scale For More Online Instruction visit our Site. Start on any note, and go up the string, hopping over every other note. In concept, it is easy. Minor Scales: Natural, Harmonic, and Melodic. Tritone. Don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense yet as it will after you apply it a couple of times. Major 3rd. However when ascending the 6th and 7th tones are raised half a step. There is one more type of scale that lives outside the major and minor (and other modes) which is called the pentatonic scale. Whole-tone scales can either use sharps or flats, but the most important definition of the scale is that every interval in the scale is a whole-step. Dan Farrant, the founder of Hello Music Theory, has been teaching music for over 10 years helping thousands of students unlock the joy of music. 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Fretboard diagrams for the whole tone scale uses only six notes and all of them are a apart! 7Th tones are raised half a step T worry if this doesn ’ T if... This doesn ’ T make sense yet as it will after you it... This type of scale is used in Romantic and jazz music ; for example the... Gives it away right - a series of tones is used in Romantic music as well as jazz ;.