How To Play The Harmonized Half Whole Diminished Scale

This week’s reader generated article comes from a question posted on the Matt Warnock Guitar Facebook Page. A reader

asked about how to harmonize the different notes in the Half-Whole Diminished Scale, and since I get this question a lot from

other readers and students, I decided it was a great topic for this week’s reader question article.

When learning how to play jazz guitar, developing a strong understanding of the Half-Whole Diminished Scale from both a

harmonic and melodic standpoint is an essential tool that can greatly expand your vocabulary in both a comping and soloing

situation.

In the following article you will learn how to build a Half-Whole Diminished Scale, what chords are used to harmonize this scale,

and how to apply this knowledge to comping, chord scales and improvising.

Half-Whole Diminished Scale

Before we dive into the harmonic content of the Half-Whole Diminished Scale, let’s look at how to build this scale from an

intervallic standpoint.

The scale gets its name because it is built by alternating half-steps and whole-steps as you ascend from the root up to the next

octave.

Here is how the scale looks starting on the note C:

C Db Eb E Gb G A Bb C

So you can see that the intervals between each note alternate between half-steps and whole steps, creating an eight-note

scale as opposed to the seven-note scales you may be used to.

Here are the intervals for each note in a Half-Whole Diminished Scale that you can use as a reference when working with this

sound in the practice room.

R b2 b3 3 b5(#11) 5 6 b7 R

And here is how the C Half-Whole Diminished Scale looks on the staff, in both notation and tab.

As well, if you are new to this scale and want to check out further one and two-octave fingerings for it on the guitar, you can

read my article “How to Play Half-Whole Diminished Scales for Guitar.”

Harmonized Half Whole Diminished Scale – Dim7 Chords

The first level of harmony we will check out with the Half-Whole Diminished Scale are the four different dim7 chords that

are found within its construction.

These four different chords contain the same four notes, in the key of C it would be Db-E-G-Bb, with each new occurrence of

the dim7 chord being an inversion of the previous voicing in the scale. Notice that these dim7 chords fall on the b9, 3rd,

5th and b7th of the tonic note, C, which can help you memorize and recall these chords in a performance situation.

This is a great way to improvise and comp over any C7 chord, transforming it into a C7b9. If you want to get a C7b9 sound, you

can play the arpeggio or voicing for Dbdim7, Edim7, Gdim7 or Bbdim7 in order to bring out that quality.

Here is how these chords are spelled in the key of C:

Db E G Bb

E G Bb Db

G Bb Db E

Bb Db E Bb

So you can see that there the dim7 chord pops up four times within this scale, but each time it is built using the same four

notes, as you would with any inversion of any chord such as maj7, 7 or m7.

Here is how these voicings look in the key of C using closed-position chords.

Harmonized Half Whole Diminished Scale – 7th Chords

The next level of harmony that you can check out with the Half-Whole Diminished Scale are the four dominant 7th chords that

occur above the other notes of the scale, C7-Eb7-Gb7-A7. This means that you can use the C Half-Whole Diminished Scale to

improvise and comp over those four different dominant 7 chords. Notice that the 7th chords fall on the root, b3rd, b5th and

6th of the tonic key, which can help you recall and use these chords quickly in a performance situation.

As you begin to experiment with this sound in a comping situation, let your ears guide you as to where and when you want to

use these 7th chords in your playing. Theoretically you can use Eb7, Gb7 and A7 to comp over C7 to give it a Half-Whole

flavor, but this might not always sound good. So try it out in the practice room before you take it out on the bandstand to avoid

any awkward looks from the rest of the group if these chords don’t sound exactly as you had planned.

Here is how each of those chords is spelled. Notice that they are not inversions of each other as was the case with the dim7

chords, but instead are stand-alone chords as far as their construction is concerned.

C E G Bb

Eb G Bb Db

Gb A Db E

A C#(Db) E G

And here is how these four chords look like on the page, in both notation and tab in the key of C using closed-position voicings.

Harmonized Half Whole Diminished Scale – Chord Scale

In the following example I have written out a Half-Whole Diminished Chord Scale in the key of C, using Drop 2 Chords on the

middle four strings. Notice that you have four dim7 and four 7 chords when you harmonize the entire scale. This means that

you can now use the C Half-Whole Diminished Scale to improvise and comp over the following chords:

C7(b9)

Eb7(b9)

Gb7(b9)

A7(b9)

Dbdim7

Edim7

Gdim7

Bbdim7

After you have checked out this example, and taken it to other keys on this string set, try building chord scales with the Half-

Whole Diminished scale with Drop 2 chords on other string sets, as well as with any other Jazz Guitar Chord that you know or

are working on in the practice room.

Having a strong understanding of how to build and use the Half-Whole Diminished Scale can not only help you shore up your

theory knowledge, but it can also help you apply this scale and its chords in situations that you may not have thought of before,

greatly expanding your harmonic and melodic vocabulary.

Do you have a favorite way to think of or use the harmonized Half-Whole Diminished Scale? If so, please share it in the

comment section below.