How to Play a Whole Tone Scale on the Guitar

The whole tone is a very unusual and quite underused scale in today's music. It was popularized in the 20th century by French musician Claude Debussy. The whole tone scale has a very exotic sound. It is atonal, which means it lacks a true tonal center. This is why the scale sounds so dreamy and wistful. By learning how to play the whole tone scale on the guitar, you will have a new and powerful song writing tool at your disposal.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• guitar

1. Tune your instrument. A whole tone scale has a very unusual sound. You want to make sure your guitar is properly in tune, so that you will become accustomed to the whole tone scale by hearing it played with the correction intonation on your guitar. Otherwise, your ear's first impression of the scale will be wrong, making it more difficult for you to learn how to recognize the scale by ear. Use a chromatic tuner to get the most accurate tuning. You can buy an inexpensive chromatic tuner at any quality music store.
2. Place the middle finger of your left hand on the fifth fret of the low E string (sixth string) of your guitar and pick. This will be the starting point for the whole tone scale.
3. Place the pinky of your left hand on the seventh fret of the low E string and pick.
4. Pick the fourth fret of the A string on your guitar (fifth string) with the pointer finger of your left hand.
5. Play the sixth fret of the A string with the ring finger of your left hand.
6. Shift to the third fret of the D string (fourth string) of the guitar by fretting with the middle finger of your left hand. This shift may take some practice to get down smoothly, so be patient and don't be frustrated if it is difficult at first.
7. Fret the fifth fret of the D string with the pinky of your left hand.
8. Play the second fret of the G string (third string) with the pointer finger of your left hand. This is the final note of the scale.
9. Play the scale in reverse. Now, play the scale back to the beginning by playing steps 1 through 8 in reverse. Once you get back to the starting point, you have completed the scale. That's it! You now know how to play a whole tone scale on the guitar!

Tips & Warnings

• The steps in this article are for a right-handed guitar player. If you are left-handed, simply use your right hand instead of the left for all of the steps.
• Because the whole tone scale is atonal, you may not feel a sense of completion or finality when you finish playing the last note of the scale. Do not worry. It takes some time to get used to the sound of such an exotic scale. With practice, you will be able to identify the scale, despite its lack of a tonal center.