The Whole-Half Diminished Scale on Guitar
The Whole-Half scale alternates a whole step and a half step through eight notes: 1 2 b3 4 b5 b6 6 7. It is the diminished scale that starts on the whole step, also written Diminished (Whole-Half).
The pattern repeats every minor third, so only three different whole-half scales exist, and they fit naturally over diminished seventh chords. Pick a key below, or see which scales fit which chords.
C Whole-Half Scale: box pattern, position 1
Structure
How the whole-half scale is built:
The whole-half scale is built from the degrees 1 2 b3 4 b5 b6 6 7, which gives the step pattern W-H-W-H-W-H-W-H (W = whole step, H = half step).
Counting in semitones from the root: 0, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11. That makes it a 8-note scale.
It is also known as Diminished Scale (Whole-Half).
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Created by
Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher
