A Whole Tone Scale

Six evenly-spaced notes — dreamlike and directionless. A Debussy favorite.

Labels
Full neck(1 / 6)
EBGDAE123456789101112131415FGABC#D#FGABC#D#FGABD#FGABC#D#FGABC#D#FGABC#D#FGABC#FGABC#D#FG

Tap any note on the fretboard to hear it. Root notes are highlighted in brand blue and marked R in interval mode.

Root
A
Formula
1 2 3 #4 #5 b7
Notes
A B C# D# F G
Difficulty
Advanced

Common Genres

JazzFilm Score

Famous Guitarists Who Use It

Allan Holdsworth · Pat Metheny

Signature Licks & Ideas

  • Use over altered dominants (7#5) for outside tension that resolves cleanly.

How to Practice

  • Play the scale one octave, ascending and descending, on a single string first.
  • Then play it across the strings in position — index finger anchored on the root fret.
  • Loop it slowly with a metronome (start at 60 bpm) before pushing tempo.
  • Improvise over a backing track in the same key — target the root note on beat 1.

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