The Half-Whole Diminished Scale - Part 1 [Lessons]

In this guitar lesson we're going to take a look at the half-whole diminished scale. It's a very dark sounding scale, and is one of my favorites. It can be used in quite a wide range of musical situations ranging from metal to jazz. You can also get away with using it to some extent in a blues context, although the die-hard blues traditionalists might raise their eye brows in horror when they hear you using it.
[Side Note: I remember a blues jam night I went to many years ago, where I got a little bit too drunk before playing. Let's just say that the patrons weren't too thrilled about the vast number of diminished scale licks that I was playing. So be careful. This scale might just get you into trouble!?:-)]
The cool thing about the half-whole diminished scale is that it's constructed entirely of alternating half-steps and whole-steps. (You might have guessed that from its name). You can really see the structure of this scale clearly when you map it onto a single string. Here's the C Half-Whole Diminished scale mapped onto the B-string...

C Half-Whole Diminished Scale: Notes Mapped On B-String

The really interest thing about this scale is that, because of its symmetrical nature, it's actually four different half-whole diminished scales rolled into one. To see what I mean, I've worked out the notes of three other diminished scales and written them down below...
Notice how they all contain the same notes as C Half-Whole Diminished scale. What this all means is that by working really hard on the C Half-Whole diminished scale, you are also developing these?three other scales at the same time. Cool huh?
OK. Now that we've talked a little bit about how the scale's constructed, let's now look at a specific scale fingering. Here's a useful fingering that uses the three-note-per-string approach...
C Half-Whole Diminished Scale: Three-Note-Per-String Fingering

Here's the same fingering written out as an exercise?using TAB...
C Half-Whole Diminished Scale: Exercise

Watch a video of me playing this exercise at a few different speeds below:
Although I written the exact fingerings and pick motions that I personally use to play the exercise, don't feel that you have to use the same approach?as me. Feel free to play?the exercise?using the techniques that you want to develop. For Example: If you want to develop your legato technique, then practice the exercise using hammer-ons and pull-offs.
Another thing that?I need to mention here is that?it's a great idea to?learn to play the exercise using different subdivisions such as...
Doing this will help improve your timing and overall technique. It will also help prepare you for using the scale in actual improvising.?So don't be lazy.?Dust off?your metronome and be sure?experiment with different timings!
This lesson was only intended to be a very short introduction to this very cool scale. We'll definitely be expanding upon what we've covered in future lessons.?For?now, just ?be sure to work hard at what we looked at, and be sure that you learn it thoroughly. Also remember to have some fun with the scale. Experiment, and see what ideas you can come up with.
Have fun!
About The Author:
Craig Bassett is a professional electric guitar teacher who is currently living in Melbourne, Australia. To get more free articles and lessons designed to help your playing, then be sure to subscribe to his electric guitar newsletter.
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