The Additional Modes and Scales do not belong to any particular key signature. All the preceding modes were divided by seven and have seven notes per scale. The Diminished and Auxiliary Diminished scales have eight notes and the Whole Tone scale has only six notes.

When you play a C Diminished scale: C, D, Eb, F, Gb, G#, A, B, you're playing the same notes as an Eb Diminished Scale: Eb, F, Gb, G#, A, B, C, D, and the same notes as a Gb Diminished Scale: Gb, G#, A, B, C, D, Eb, F, and the same notes as an A Diminished Scale: A, B, C, D, Eb, F, Gb, G#.

To summarize, C Dminished, Eb Diminished, Gb Diminished and A Dminished all have the same notes. We could say that these four scales are in the same sort of "key." Twelve tones divided by four equals three, there are basically only three Diminished Scales. Note that this is the same for the Auxiliary Diminished Scale.

For the Whole Tone Scale is it even simpler:
C Whole Tone: C, D, E, F#, G#, Bb
D Whole Tone: D, E, F#, G#, Bb, C
E Whole Tone: E, F#, G#, Bb, C, D
F# Whole Tone: F#, G#, Bb, C, D, E
G# Whole Tone: G#, Bb, C, D, E, F#
Bb Whole Tone: Bb, C, D, E, F#, G#

C, D, E, F#, G#, Bb Whole Tone have the same notes. We could say that these six scales have the same sort of "key." Twelve tones divided by six equals two so there are basically only two Whole Tone Scales.

The Diminished Scale goes with the Diminished Chord or Dim7. The Auxiliary Diminished Scale (also called the Double Diminished Scale) goes with 7b9 and 7#9 chords. The Whole Tone Scale goes with 7#5 or Augmented (+) Chords.

Practice these scales starting from any note on your bass. You will notice that the intervals in the Dminished Scale are constant: Whole step, half step, whole step, half step, etc. The Auxiliary Scale is just the opposite: Half step, whole step, half step, whole step, etc. The Whole Tone Scale, as its name indicates, is composed only of whole steps, making the playing of the pattern positions really simple as you can see on the position examples.

Download Video Clip 2.1 meg
Requires QuickTime plug in

NEXT LESSON: THE PENTATONIC AND BLUES SCALES

CHECK OUT ONE OF BUNNY'S CDs!

Featuring... Dennis Chambers, Tony MacAlpine & Brian Auger!	GRAMMY NOMINATED! Featuring... Dennis Chambers, Tony MacAlpine & Brian Auger!	Featuring... Dennis Chambers, Tony MacAlpine, Patrice Rushen & Brian Auger! NOW AVAILABLE ON...
Featuring... Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke & More! NOW AVAILABLE ON...	Featuring... Mike Stern, Billy Childs, Chick Corea and Vinne Colaiuta!	Featuring... Virgil Donati, Vivian Campbell, Brian Auger, Ray Gomez, Mike Stern & More!
Featuring... Frank Gambale, Patrick Moraz, Kei Akagi and John Wackerman.	Featuring... Daniel Goyone, Chick Corea, André Ceccarelli and more.	New CD! Featuring Mike Stern, Ray Gomez, Bill Watrous, Flora Purim& Aierto Moreira and more! NOW AVAILABLE ON...

If you enjoyed this lesson, please consider a small donation to help keep the Cyber School online. (Suggested donation: $3 per lesson)

All materials © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Bunny Brunel.
Any unauthorized resale, distribution, public display or duplication is a violation of all applicable laws and is subject to prosecution.