Guitar Concepts - Diminished Scale (1/365)
By: Chad Ellis
The diminished scales is a very unique sounding scales. It can be found in array of musical genres but perhaps a little less common in popular music. Although when sprinkled in sparingly in your music, it can create an interesting mood. There are two types of diminished scales: whole/half and half/whole. Both of these scales will have different functions and I would love to explore these over the next few blog entries. To understand the way these scales are constructed you need to have a basic understanding of the way half steps and whole steps are built. The whole/half and half/whole diminished scales are called a symmetrical scales. This simply means it is based on a repeating pattern of specific intervals. In the case of the whole/half scale a whole step is followed by a half step and in a half/whole scale, a half step is followed by a whole step.
Whole-Half diminished scale starting on a C will look like this:
C-D-Eb-F-Gb-Ab-A-B-C
Half-Whole diminished scale starting on a C will look like this:
C-Db-Eb-E-F#-G-A-Bb-C
The first use of the scale I would like to discuss would be over a functioning V chord and we are going to employee the half/whole diminished scale. (Functioning V chords are when they return right to the I chord.)
For Example:
IG7///ICMinor7///I or IG7///ICMajor7///I
Over the G7 (V) chord we typically use the altered scale (minor) and mixolydian scale (major). However let's try and using our G half/whole diminished scale instead.
The notes of the G half-whole diminished scale are G-Ab-Bb-B-C#-D-E-F-G.
Stay tune for the next blog where will dive deeper into this amazing territory.
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