Whole Tone
Six notes, all a whole step apart — dream sequences and augmented harmony.
2 fretboard positions in standard tuning, low string on the left. Every dot is a note of the scale and the number inside it is the scale degree, so you can see the shape and the theory at once.
root notescale notenumbers inside the dots are scale degrees
Box 1
Open position
When to use it: It lands in open position for this key, so the open strings carry the low notes — easy to play, but the one shape you cannot slide to another key. Root on the 6th string. Learn this one first — matching the root to a fret is all it takes to move the shape to any key.
Box 2
Frets 7–10
When to use it: Root on the 5th string. Use it when the tonic is easier to find on the A string, or when you want the scale to sit higher.
6 notes, built off E with the formula 1 · 2 · 3 · ♯4 · ♯5 · ♭7. Perfectly symmetrical, so it has no leading tone and no obvious root. Debussy used it for haze; jazz players use it over 7♯5 chords.
With 6 notes there is no seven-chord diatonic set to stack. What matters instead is which chords this scale fits over: every chord below is built entirely from notes in the scale, so you can solo across it without hitting a note that fights the backing chord.
Scales are not islands. Same notes, different home note gives you the relative scale; same home note, different notes gives you the parallel.
Matching key
Key of E MajorThe key page has the full diatonic table, the common progressions, and every chord in the key with diagrams.
The E whole tone scale has 6 notes: E, F#, G#, A#, B#, D. The interval formula is 1–2–3–♯4–♯5–♭7, counted up from E.
It is not a seven-note scale, so it has no diatonic harmony of its own. The chords whose notes fit entirely inside it are Abaug, Bbaug, Caug, Daug, Eaug, F#aug — those are safe to solo over with this scale.
Start with Position 1 (6th-string root) in open position. It lands in open position for this key, so the open strings carry the low notes — easy to play, but the one shape you cannot slide to another key. Root on the 6th string. Learn this one first — matching the root to a fret is all it takes to move the shape to any key.
The patterns above get your fingers moving. These explain what the notes are actually doing, so you can use the scale instead of just running it.
8 min read
Modes Explained — Ionian Through LocrianA scale with no home note, set against modes that have one.
5 min read
Intervals — The Only Music Theory You Actually NeedSix equal whole steps, and what perfect symmetry does to your ear.
7 min read
Borrowed Chords and Modal Mixture — Stealing from Parallel KeysWhere a scale this strange gets used without derailing the key.