Bb diminished whole-half scale
- Notes
- Bb C Db Eb Fb Gb G A
- Formula
- 1 2 b3 4 b5 b6 6 7
- Steps
- W H W H W H W H (W tone, H semitone)
- Also called
- Bb octatonic, starting with a tone
- Also written
- A# diminished whole-half: A# B# C# D# E F# G A
Eight notes from Bb up to the next Bb. Symmetric scales repeat a letter or skip one, so the spelling here keeps each note to a single sharp or flat.
Bb diminished whole-half on the piano
From Bb4 to Bb5, the root in blue-green.
Intervals from Bb
| Note | Degree | Interval | Semitones |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bb | 1 | root | 0 |
| C | 2 | major second | 2 |
| Db | b3 | minor third | 3 |
| Eb | 4 | perfect fourth | 5 |
| Fb | b5 | diminished fifth | 6 |
| Gb | b6 | minor sixth | 8 |
| G | 6 | major sixth | 9 |
| A | 7 | major seventh | 11 |
Bb diminished whole-half 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 Bb diminished whole-half
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 8-note scale has no single set of "the" chords the way a seven-note scale does.
| On | Chords |
|---|---|
| Bb (A#) | A#dim, A#dim7 |
| C | C, Cm, Cdim, C6, Cm6, C7, Cm7, Cm7b5, Cdim7, C7b9, C7#9 |
| Db (C#) | C#dim, C#dim7 |
| Eb | Eb, Ebm, D#dim, Eb6, Ebm6, Eb7, Ebm7, D#m7b5, D#dim7, Eb7b9, Eb7#9 |
| Fb (E) | Edim, Edim7 |
| Gb (F#) | F#, F#m, F#dim, F#6, F#m6, F#7, F#m7, F#m7b5, F#dim7, F#7b9, Gb7#9 |
| G | Gdim, Gdim7 |
| A | A, Am, Adim, A6, Am6, A7, Am7, Am7b5, Adim7, A7b9, A7#9 |
Same notes, different home note
Bb diminished whole-half uses exactly the same notes as C diminished half-whole, Db diminished whole-half, Eb diminished half-whole, E diminished whole-half, F# diminished half-whole, G diminished whole-half and A diminished half-whole. What changes is the note the music keeps returning to, and with it which chord sounds like home.
How Bb diminished whole-half is built
Eight notes, alternating a whole tone and a semitone, starting with the whole tone. It holds the diminished seventh chord Bbdim7 (Bb Db Fb G) plus the note a whole tone above each of its notes, which is why it is the scale played over a diminished seventh chord. Its notes repeat every three semitones, so it is also the whole-half scale on Db, E and G.
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. A# diminished whole-half is the same sounds written from A#; 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.