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whole-tone scale

whole-tone floating

whole-tone on the guitar: the fretboard diagram

Here is the whole-tone scale laid out across the whole neck, from fret 0 to fret 15. The guide tones (3rd and 7th) are highlighted — they're what makes the scale's color sing. Use the key selector above to shift the shape along the neck and find the positions in your key.

What color?

Six notes a whole step apart, with no half step and no perfect fifth, hence a total absence of gravity and a dreamlike blur. The color of V7#5 and the augmented chord; you use it to suspend time and blur the tonal sense.

Origin & history

A symmetrical scale of six notes spaced a whole tone apart: no half step, no asserted tonic, hence its floating sensation. The French Impressionists, Debussy foremost, made it famous at the end of the 19th century; it is one of Olivier Messiaen's modes of limited transposition.

Listen

• "Voiles" (Préludes) — Claude Debussy

Which chords to play it on?

The jazz consensus (Aebersold) recommends it on:

Try it in a real chart

Paste a chord chart into the tool: Pentania tells you, chord by chord, when this scale fits — and what other colors are open to you. Open the tool →