Hexatonic: The Whole Tone Scales

The whole tone scale is easy enough to learn, but is rarely found in rock music. There are only two whole tone scales, each consisting of six notes per octave (hexatonic), and each note is evenly spaced with no half tones. The entire scale is built on whole-step intervals. A triad built on this scale would be, Root, Major Third, Raised (#) Fifth, which is an augmented chord ( Aug. or + ).

Here is a two-octave view of the whole-tone scale layed out on the piano:

| |B| |B| | |B| |B| |B| | |B| |B| | |B| |B| |B| |
| | | | | | |X| |X| |X| | | | | | | |X| |X| |X| |
| |_| |_| | |_| |_| |_| | |_| |_| | |_| |_| |_| |
|X | X | X|  |   |   |  |X | X | X|  |   |   |  |
|__|___|__|__|___|___|__|__|___|__|__|___|___|__|_
 C   D   E   F#  G#  A#  C   D   E   F#  G#  A#
PIANO
B=Black keys    X=scale note

| |B| |B| | |B| |B| |B| | |B| |B| | |B| |B| |B| |
| |X| |X| | | | | | | | | |X| |X| | | | | | | | |
| |_| |_| | |_| |_| |_| | |_| |_| | |_| |_| |_| |
|  |   |  |X | X | X | X|  |   |  |X | X | X | X|
|__|___|__|__|___|___|__|__|___|__|__|___|___|__|_
   C#  D#  F   G   A   B   C#  D#  F   G   A   B

You see on the piano that the scale altenates between groups of black and white keys.

On the guitar, using Standard tuning, the scale pattern looks like diagonals mostly, or diamonds, with the exception being the G and B strings.

Guitar fretboard:

                   5th                         12th
e|O---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|-
B||-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-
G||-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|--
D|O---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|--
A||-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|--
E|O---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|---|-x-|-

X=scale notes

Whole-tones fit well over augmented chords.

e|---2---4---6---|---2---6---10---|-----------------|
B|---3---5---7---|---3---7---11---|---2-------8-----|
G|---3---5---7---|---3---7---11---|---2---6---10----|
D|---2---4---6---|---4---8---12---|---3---7---11----|
A|---------------|----------------|---4---6---10----|
E|---------------|----------------|-------7---------|

Whole-tone isn’t strictly for augmented chords. In our song “Hard Hard” (c), we play the whole-tone scale over this type of progression in the instrumental break:

    G  C# A  D#    B        C    C#      D      D#
e|---------------|-------------|--------------|-----|
B|-----6-----8---|-7-------8---|-9-------10---|-11---
G|--4--6--6--8---|-8-------9---|-10------11---|-12--
D|--5--6--7--8---|-9-------10--|-11------12---|-13--
A|--5--4--7--6---|-9-------10--|-11------12---|-13--
E|--3-----5------|-7-------8---|-9-------10---|-11--
    /  /  /  /     /  /  /  /    /  /  /   /    /  / ...

Listen to the song “Insomnia” on mp3. Our song “Insomnia” (c) was written entirely for the whole-tone scale:

e|-----------------|---------||
B|-----------------|---------||
G|-5---3-----------|---------||
D|---4---2-4---2---|---------||
A|-----------3---1-|-3---1-3-||
E|-----------------|---2-----||
   / . / . / . / .   / . / .

e|-----------------|-----------------|
B|-----------------|-----------------|
G|-----------------|-----------------|
D|-----------------|-------------4/6-|
A|-----------------|-------------5/7-|
E|-0-0-2-0-0-4-0-0-|-6-0-0-8-0-0-----|
   / . / . / . / .   / . / . / . / .

e|------------------|-----------------|-------------------|
B|------------------|-----------------|-------------------|
G|------------------|-----------------|-------------------|
D|-6-4--------------|-----------------|------------4------|
A|-----7-5-9-7------|-7-5-----5-3-----|---5p3--3-5---3h5--|
E|-------------10-8-|-----6-4-----4-2-|-4----4------------|
   / . / . / . /  .   / . / . / . / .   / .  / . / . /  . etc

(sample)

The whole-tone scale fits well into impressionistic compositions. Two renown classical composers who used the whole-tone scale: Béla Bartók, Claude Debussy “Voiles - Prelude 2 , Book 1”. Whole tones do give the feeling of restlessness, due to its lack of tonal center and absence of leading notes or half tones.

“Insomnia” is a good example of the possibilities of the whole tone scale. Listen to “Insomnia”.

The Hexatonic was one of the earliest scales I learned, mainly because of my pal who got me into the progressive sound of King Crimson.

Comments

[Blas3]

not a bad article, but I think it would be nicer if you don't advertise yourselves as examples

[mik8ramone]

so good...

it's not perfect but goes

[rockdive]

Blas3 wrote:

not a bad article, but I think it would be nicer if you don't advertise yourselves as examples

Yeah, I kinda agree, except I haven't seen much other examples of this, especially in rock. I know Thelonius Monk use to improvise sometimes in whole tone.

[progrock]

Pretty good examples and riffs, but as the first guy mentioned, it's best not to advertise yourselves.

[fvanschoor]

I think its awesome to advertise yourself. Confidence in playing the riff you are teaching is never a bad thing. Thanx for the info, will give it a go tonight. Also, I am not disagreeing with the others, its just, if you know you can do something and have done it well, then use the example, maybe others learn? I dunno.

Anyway, thanx

[Skamez]

i aggre with blas3 because ure unsigned and people could possibly steal ure stuff =] but also it was only ure stuff really with a few other diagrams

[dantheguitarist]

I think a better example for some stuff would be Rob Jarzombek and/or Spastic Ink. He does some crazy shit with whole tones. Overall, great listen, I liked how tabbed out some riffs.

[Thereisnotry]

Great lesson, I was curious about whole tones and this explained it perfectly. I also wouldn't consider your examples "advertising." Using your own material as an example is just as effective as using someone else's, so why not?