Pretty nice right? but with the power of the half-whole scale we can do this...
"If you're new to mDecks Music, we create: music books and apps, piano arrangements, and we discuss:
improvisation, songwriting and sometimes... we take music theory to strange and uncharted places.
so subscribe and hit the bell and join us for exclusive access to our ever expanding library
of music resources." This is the half-whole scale, also known as the symmetric diminished, or the half
diminished scale. It's built using a simple formula. You can start on any note and then play a repeated
pattern of half step followed by a whole step. When we look at the modes of this scale, we see it as an
eight note symmetric scale. Symmetric meaning: it has fewer modes than notes. In fact, this scale
is so symmetric that it just contains two modes: itself the half-whole, and the whole-half scale
also known as the diminished scale. Look, if we start the C half-whole scale on the second note ,
we get a D-flat whole-half. Of course this is obvious when we look at the intervallic formula.
A repeating half-whole pattern merely turns into a repeating whole-half pattern, and there are no
other possible modes. You can also see this clearly when we rotate the graph over the
circle of fifths. There's only two ways in which we can draw this graph within the circle, no matter
how much we turn it around. Now, the half-whole scale -- as we talked about ad nauseam in our channel --
is a great scale for dominant chords. The C half-whole creates a very interesting sound over a C7
and it resolves beautifully to an F major. It also reveals relationships between
dominant substitutions in the tritone system. Since this scale is symmetric -- containing eight notes,
and only two modes -- every other note could be the root of the scale. In other words, if i play this...
we can't tell if this is a C half whole, or an Eb half whole, or an F#,
or an A half whole scale. They're all the same exact notes. That doesn't really happen to the
major scale, which is not symmetric. If i play a C major scale you know it's a C major scale
No other major scale is built with these notes. Of course, it could be a D Dorian or an E Phrygian
and so on. But as a major Ionian scale, there's only one option: it has to be a C major scale.
But the half whole is symmetric, so every other mode has the same interval formula, and cannot
be distinguished from the rest. So a C half diminished could be an F# half diminished.
Since the C half diminished works well over a C7 then, it should work perfectly
on an F#7 as well. We can use this information to reharmonize any C7 with an F#7
This F#7 is of course the subV in the key of F. It is the tritone substitution
of the C7 in that key. Of course, expanding on this concept, we could also try re-harmonizing a C7
-- the V7 in the key of F -- with an Eb7 the bVII of the key and, as you can see, it works great...
We could also consider re-harmonizing the C7 with an A7.
This is a much harder reharmonization to pull off, but in a way we can see it as the V7/vi
-- Dm -- which is the other tonic chord in F major, and use it to create a deceptive resolution.
But this isn't the only way that we can use the half-whole scale to relate harmonic functions.
Another interesting perspective is to consider the other mode of this scale: the whole-half -- or
the diminished scale. If we start the C half whole on the second note, we get a Db
(or C#) diminished scale. And every other note will be yet another diminished scale.
So C# whole-half is the same as E whole half,
G whole half, and Bb whole half. And any of these notes could be the root of the scale.
What's cool about this perspective, is that it works great over diminished chords, and that's
because, in a diminished chord, any note a whole step above a chord tone is an available tension.
In a C#o7, a whole step above C# is D#, above E you have F#,
above G is the A, and above the Bb you have C. So in a o7 all the chord tones,
with all of the available tensions, spell out the whole-half scale. Now, if we look at our original
C7, paired with the half-whole, and then consider the whole-half starting for example on the E,
we have a great scale to play over an Eo7, which is the
viio7 of the key of F. So, our C half-whole over C7 contains the same notes
as the E whole-half over Eo7. And this perspective shows us the relationship between
the V7 (C7) and the viio7 (Eo7). What's cool about diminished 7 chords -- much
like the two scales that we're discussing today -- is that they're also symmetric -- fewer modes than notes.
Actually, there's only one mode of this note grouping. What this means, is that any note
in a diminished 7 chord could be the root of the note grouping. When you invert a diminished 7 chord
you get another diminished 7 chord, made up of the same exact notes. Seeing this opens the door
to even more potential reharmonizations. Not only could you substitute the C7 out for Eo7
but Go7, or Bbo7, or C#o7 as well. And all of these
are paired with the same whole-half scale. Remember, the E, G, Bb and C# whole half scales are
all the same exact note grouping. In fact, they're also the same exact note grouping as the C half
whole scale. So, this one simple scale allowed us to arrive at all these amazing and different places.
Pairing the symmetric diminished scale with your dominant chords, not only gives you amazing sounds
and colors to explore, but it also -- in and of itself -- is a literal list of potential substitutions.
Every odd note in the scale represents the roots of other dominant chords you can play,
and every even note of the scale represents the roots of diminished seven chords that you can
use for substitutions. Let's take a look at how to apply this to "I Love You". Here, we have a ii-V in F.
Gm7b5 - C7 to F. Now, let's pair the C7 with the symmetric diminished scale.
Now, using the scale as a reference, I see we have as dominant options: Eb7, Gb7 and, A7
And as diminished options we have: C#o7,
Eo7, Go7, and Bbo7. Let's try a few of these out...
and don't forget, we're pairing every single one of these chords with the same exact note grouping.
All the notes that are found in the C symmetric diminished scale. Your perspective might change
for example: from C half-whole to Eb half-whole, to E whole-half, or even G whole-half, but they're
all made up of the same exact notes. Some of these substitutions will work a lot better than others,
and there's a very good reason for that -- that we'll explain in another video.
But I encourage you to explore all of the reharms that we talked about today,
and see which ones are your favorite. And let us know down in the comments below: which dominant
chord reharm works best and why. And for our "exclusive access" members, we've included a pdf
of all the available dominant and diminished substitutions in every key. And if you're not
a member yet, you can join right now by clicking on the join button, or by using the provided link