Whole-Tone Scale Patterns
In a previous post we looked at whole-tone scale fingerings, but I didn't give you any suggestions about what order to play the notes in or how to use different techniques with the scale. This post will fill in that gap and hopefully prepare us well for thinking about how the scale can be applied. I'll miss out the most obvious ways to play the fingerings in the previous post -- straight up and down using normal picking technique, that is.
Let's start with the two classic patterns, playing the notes in a few different ways. Here's a long run; some analysis follows:
T--------------------------------------------------8--12--10--12--8---------------------------------- |----------------------------------------9--7--11--------------------7--9---------------------------- A------------------------------7--9--11------------------------------------7--9---------------------- |--------------------10--6--8----------------------------------------------------8--10--------------- B-----------9--7--5---------------------------------------------------------------------9--11-------- |--4--8--6-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10--12
On the ascending run I'm using three different ways to play the three-note pattern on the string. If you haven't tried playing three-note-per-string scale fingerings using these kinds of variations, check out this post which outlines the thinking behind it.
The descending part of the run just reverses the usual order of the notes. This is actually rather more comfortable than descending this pattern the other way, and it gives the sound a twist too. You can, of course, apply this idea to pentatonic or other two-note-per-string patterns, and again I'll have more to say about this in a future post.
You can always reverse the order of these kinds of runs by reading them backwards. In this case, the backwards version of the run would go like this:
T------------------------------------8--12--10--12--8------------------------------------------------ |------------------------------9--7--------------------9--11--7-------------------------------------- A------------------------9--7------------------------------------9--7--11---------------------------- |-----------------8--10----------------------------------------------------8--6--10------------------ B----------11--9---------------------------------------------------------------------7--9--5--------- |--12--10-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6--4--8
Some of the other patterns I'll give in this lesson will go up and down and some will just go up -- use this reversing method on any you decide you'd like to learn.
The next pattern uses one of the position-based fingerings and introduces to string-skipping to create variety:
T-----------------------------------------------------4--6--8---------------------------------- |-----------------------------------------5--7------------------------------------------------- A--------------------------5--7-----------------5--7------------------------------------------- |-----------4--6--8--------------4--6--8------------------------------------------------------- B--------------------5--7---------------------------------------------------------------------- |--4--6--8-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This might sound a bit disjointed on its own, so instead of skipping strings let's put a single note on them so we can sweep through them:
T-----------------------------------------------------------------4--6--8---------------------- |--------------------------------------------------5--7--------5------------------------------- A--------------------------------5--7-----------5--------5--7---------------------------------- |--------------4--6--8--------6--------4--6--8------------------------------------------------- B-----------5-----------5--7------------------------------------------------------------------- |--4--6--8-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Continuing this idea, let's sweep across pairs of strings:
T-------------------------4--6--4-------------------------------------------------------------- |----------------------5-----------7--5-------------------------------------------------------- A----------------5--7--------------------5----------------------------------------------------- |--------------6----------------------------6-------------------------------------------------- B-----------7----------------------------------9--7--5----------------------------------------- |--4--6--8----------------------------------------------6--------------------------------------
Some parts of this pattern might be starting to look familiar, at least if you know your augmented triad arpeggios. The whole-tone scale can in fact be thought of as a pair of augmented triads a whole tone apart.
Let's explore this, first by simply running up one and down the other and then mixing them up a bit more. Note that these are awkward to play straight up and down across all six strings because you run out of fingers, but quite easy across five strings or fewer.
T-----------------4--6-----------------------------------------6--4---------------------------- |--------------5--------7-----------------------------------7--------5------------------------- A-----------5--------------7-----------------------------7--------------5--7------------------- |--------6--------------------8--------------------6--8-----------------------8--4------------- B-----7--------------------------9--------------7-----------------------------------5---------- |--8--------------------------------10-------8-----------------------------------------6-------
These two augmented arpeggios will figure in a big way in later posts as we examine some of the applications of the whole-tone scale. Until then, continue playing with the fingerings to create interesting runs, and remember to vary the rhythms you use as well.
I'll end with a pattern using tapping on a single string -- a + before a note means it's tapped with the right hand, and \ means slide down to the next note:
T---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |-+8--4--6--4--+10--4--6--4-+12--6--8--6--+10--6--8--6--+12-+14-+12-10--8--6-\4---------------- A---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's happening at the end is I'm tapping the 12th fret with my index finger, hammering the 14th with my ring finger (still on my picking hand) and pulling off back to the 12th. Meanwhile I've changed position with my left hand so that I'm ready for the tapping hand to pull off to my little finger on the 10th fret, which pulls down to the 8th and then the 6th and finally slides down to the 4th. If you don't yet know how to tap with more than one finger you could use a slide up and down to get a similar effect; I'll have more to say about tapping in future posts.
