Whole-Tone Scale

Six-note scale over V7 → resolving to I, twelve keys

Ascend by whole step from the V root, six times — the seventh note is the octave. The scale contains six notes; the symmetry of the interval means only two unique scales exist for all twelve roots. From G: G – A – B – C♯ – D♯ – F – G. Each note is a chord tone or altered tension of G7: root, 9, 3, ♯11, ♭13, ♭7.

The exercise plays the scale ascending in eighth notes over one bar of V7, then resolves to the 3rd of I as a whole note in bar 2 — a strong altered-V → I cadence.

Both hands: the LH now comps a rootless V7 voicing (3-13-♭7-9) under bar 1, resolving to a rootless Imaj7 voicing (3-5-7-9) under bar 2 — the RH's whole-tone line and cadence are unchanged.

Scale

1 – 2 – 3 – ♯4 – ♯5 – ♭7 (six whole steps to the octave)

Over V7

root, 9, 3, ♯11, ♭13, ♭7 — has ♯11 and ♭13; no ♭9 or ♯9

G7 → C altered V → I

C7 → F altered V → I

F7 → B♭ altered V → I

B♭7 → E♭ altered V → I

E♭7 → A♭ altered V → I

A♭7 → D♭ altered V → I

D♭7 → G♭ altered V → I

F♯7 → B altered V → I

B7 → E altered V → I

E7 → A altered V → I

A7 → D altered V → I

D7 → G altered V → I

The Daily Drill

Sound the ambiguity

4 minPlay one key. The whole-tone scale has no half-steps anywhere — it never resolves to itself. Only the move to the I's 3rd on bar 2 gives the music somewhere to go.
8 minCycle three keys at a time. Note that whole-tone scales repeat every whole step, so roots a WHOLE step apart share a scale: G, A, B, D♭, E♭, and F all use the same six pitches. The other six roots (C, D, E, F♯, A♭, B♭) share the other scale.
3 minHear the symmetry: the whole-tone scale repeats every two semitones — there's no "key center" within the scale itself. That dissolution of tonality is the whole point.
3 minApply to a chord-melody. Improvise an 8-eighth-note phrase over the V chord of any standard, using only whole-tone-scale notes. Then resolve to the 3rd of I on bar 2.

Whole-tone vs altered scale

Both scales are used over altered V7 chords. The whole-tone scale (this exercise) has 6 notes and contains the 3, ♯11, ♭13, and ♭7 (but not the ♭9 or ♯9). The altered scale (the 7th mode of melodic minor, sometimes called "super-locrian") has 7 notes and contains the ♭9, ♯9, 3, ♯11, ♭13, ♭7. Altered is more chromatic and harder to play; whole-tone is symmetric, easier on the hand, and has a more open colour. Both work. Pick by context.

Six notes, no resolution within. The scale that suspends tonality and waits.

80 bpm

Sound