A whole-tone scale
- Notes
- A B C# D# E# G
- Formula
- 1 2 3 #4 #5 b7
- Steps
- W W W W W W (W tone, H semitone)
Six notes from A up to the next A. Symmetric scales repeat a letter or skip one, so the spelling here keeps each note to a single sharp or flat.
A whole-tone on the piano
From A4 to A5, the root in blue-green.
Intervals from A
| Note | Degree | Interval | Semitones |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 | root | 0 |
| B | 2 | major second | 2 |
| C# | 3 | major third | 4 |
| D# | #4 | augmented fourth | 6 |
| E# | #5 | augmented fifth | 8 |
| G | b7 | minor seventh | 10 |
A whole-tone on the guitar
Standard tuning, high e on top as in tablature, open strings to fret 12. Every dot is a note of the scale; the pattern repeats from fret 12 up.
Chords that fit A whole-tone
Every chord of the common types (triads, sus, sixths, sevenths, add9, 7b9, 7#9) whose notes are all in the scale, on each of its notes, spelled as on the chord pages. A 6-note scale has no single set of "the" chords the way a seven-note scale does.
Same notes, different home note
A whole-tone uses exactly the same notes as Db whole-tone, Eb whole-tone, F whole-tone, G whole-tone and B whole-tone. What changes is the note the music keeps returning to, and with it which chord sounds like home.
How A whole-tone is built
Six notes, each a whole tone from the next, so every note is the same distance from its neighbours and no note sounds like home. There are only two different whole-tone scales: this one, which has the same notes as the whole-tone scales on Db, Eb, F, G and B, and the one on Bb whole-tone. Every note is the root of an augmented triad (Aaug: A C# E#), and the scale fits the augmented seventh chord A7#5. Debussy used it for its blurred, dreamlike sound.
Played some notes and not sure which scale they come from? The scale finder listens to the piano, a MIDI keyboard or the microphone and ranks all 180 scales.
What this page cannot do
- One spelling per scale. the root is spelled the way that needs the fewest sharps and flats.
- Equal temperament only. Blues and many folk traditions bend notes between these pitches, and Arabic and Turkish maqam scales use quarter tones that a piano cannot play.
- The guitar diagram shows standard tuning only and does not suggest fingerings; any note can be played in several places.
- The sound is a simple synthesised tone made in your browser, not a recorded instrument.