Music Theory - The Whole Tone Scale

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  • Опубликовано: 16 июн 2024
  • In this short scale tutorial we will be discussing the Whole Tone Scale.
    The Whole Tone scale is a six-note or Hexatonic scale. It has no half steps and thus no leading tone. All six notes are separated by a whole step or whole tone. There are only 2 different whole tone scales. The scale is used in both classical music and jazz extensively. Many film scores rely on it's ambiguous nature to create dream like effects with it. Claude Debussy used the scale extensively as did other impressionist composers between 1875-1925.
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Комментарии • 210

  • @Myuzishin
    @Myuzishin 4 года назад +99

    Proof that Google spies. I was literally noodling a whole tone pattern minutes before opening RUclips.

    • @vicferrari89
      @vicferrari89 4 года назад +9

      You have a Droid? Its listening. No B.S. It's scary.

    • @smellyreally2562
      @smellyreally2562 4 года назад +7

      me too but i searched for whole tone scale

    • @kwamekamaujames3986
      @kwamekamaujames3986 3 года назад +2

      If you still need proof, read Bruce Schneier’s Data and Goliath (2015). No worries; just wisdom.

    • @telsonater
      @telsonater 3 года назад +3

      Man, I was talking to a buddy about how no one explains whole tone scales and boom! Here I am

  • @tristangianelli
    @tristangianelli 5 лет назад +81

    I’ve noticed the whole tone scale works really well with Lydian dominant because Lydian dominant has 4 consecutive whole steps. It sounds super cool

  • @TimV93
    @TimV93 5 лет назад +75

    5:45 the C+/D+ Chord sounds like "The Desert and the Robot Auction" from Star Wars

    • @trevorganoe748
      @trevorganoe748 5 лет назад +2

      I think it sounds like the theme of the apartment building from Ghostbusters.

    • @kubaurbanski4388
      @kubaurbanski4388 3 года назад

      I thought the same. Star Wars

    • @wanderingrandomer
      @wanderingrandomer 3 года назад +3

      A lot of the noodling reminds me of Ocarina of Time

    • @realobama1100
      @realobama1100 2 года назад +1

      Read my mind

    • @vleaky3430
      @vleaky3430 2 года назад +1

      YESSS I literally just noticed

  • @manny75586
    @manny75586 6 лет назад +37

    I love that everyone (myself included) makes a universal "you are about to hear this voice leading resolve nicely" face when playing piano chords.

  • @thesunbehindthesun1574
    @thesunbehindthesun1574 6 лет назад +18

    Love the whole tone, has such a surreal feeling to it. I really love the way Danny Elfman especially uses it in "Batman" and "The Simpsons".

    • @BusinessZeus
      @BusinessZeus Год назад

      Yes the Simpsons love the whole tone scale

    • @Arycke
      @Arycke 11 месяцев назад +1

      The simpsons is really a better example of lydian dominant though

  • @minemilx2702
    @minemilx2702 7 лет назад +41

    Sounds like music from the good disney era. The one with D+ over C+ sounds like when someone is rolling down a hill stuck in an expanding snowball.

  • @mauriciomadrigal3389
    @mauriciomadrigal3389 7 лет назад +1

    You are awesome Rick. I feel very happy I found this channel. Thanks a lot for all your wonderful videos!

  • @gaiusdrusus
    @gaiusdrusus 5 лет назад +3

    FYI bought the book a year ago...the videos with the Beato book keep me waayyyy sharper than if left alone to my own tried and true noodling cul de sacs.

  • @ConspiresTo
    @ConspiresTo 7 лет назад +1

    Best music tutorials I have seen for a long while! Giving me some cool new things to think about

  • @cybrunel1016
    @cybrunel1016 6 лет назад +37

    Rick is barre none the best educator on RUclips, period.

  • @Wyrdo999
    @Wyrdo999 2 года назад +1

    Great video rick. I like the way you went from the piano right to the guitar, giving us the sounds to play or consider based on the instruments tonal and harmonic qualities.

  • @Truth-Speaker13
    @Truth-Speaker13 7 лет назад +1

    Thank you for this awesome tutorial Mr. Beato

  • @Cephalonimbus
    @Cephalonimbus 7 лет назад +158

    King Crimson did a couple of tunes that were almost entirely in the whole note scale: Fracture, and Elektrik
    This is a fantastic channel BTW. Thanks for sharing the knowledge, Rick!

    • @aarnialeksis
      @aarnialeksis 5 лет назад +9

      Also the song "Red" is heavily based on whole-tone/octatonic-scales

    • @TalkingSandvich
      @TalkingSandvich 5 лет назад +2

      How does it work, though?

    • @malevolentsound
      @malevolentsound 4 года назад +1

      One more red nightmare

    • @oldcowbb
      @oldcowbb 4 года назад +1

      @@TalkingSandvich we really are everywhere huh

    • @agapeleone5847
      @agapeleone5847 3 года назад +2

      They are an amazing group!!! Very underrated.

  • @bloodflowerrrs1555
    @bloodflowerrrs1555 4 года назад +11

    The beginning of Sorceress by Opeth is a really good use of the scale IMO.

  • @maxonmendel5757
    @maxonmendel5757 5 лет назад +13

    This scale always reminds me of characters traveling through a space time portal.

  • @stilllife4u
    @stilllife4u 3 года назад

    The set looks good here .Good picture . Bight clean , Dig the gear in the back ground .Nice shirt . And the Whole Tone is why I watched . Thank ya .

  • @setadriftonfishandchips
    @setadriftonfishandchips 3 года назад +10

    The band Cardiacs used whole tone a lot to great effect.

    • @bullerfugl
      @bullerfugl 3 года назад +1

      The whole note window

    • @particlejim
      @particlejim 3 года назад +2

      I came here to say this, Tim Smith really was a true musical genius in my opinion, his music touches me in a way that no other music even comes close too
      RIP Timmy - The Leader of the Starry Skies

  • @yeshonbk5831
    @yeshonbk5831 5 лет назад

    Amazing.....your lesson is straight to the points..

  • @voronOsphere
    @voronOsphere 4 года назад

    Thanks, Rick! I just found this! I'm gonna be all over this lesson!

  • @fiacchi
    @fiacchi 2 года назад

    Awww, the beautiful sound of whole tone scale! Eveytime I heard this sound my mind goes to the beginning of "Pelléas et Mélisande" by Debussy: for me one of the best use of whole tone scale in the last century.

  • @DavidOliveiraUfc
    @DavidOliveiraUfc 6 лет назад

    mind blow. Thank you so much Rick!!

  • @meanjon13_illusions
    @meanjon13_illusions 5 лет назад +2

    Play the Whole Tone scale a half step down from the root. I picked that up from an old Guitar Player magazine. It has a really unique in/out type of sound

  • @mr.kilpatrick2991
    @mr.kilpatrick2991 5 лет назад

    another great video Rick - Thanks

  • @valentinlemarchand9947
    @valentinlemarchand9947 7 лет назад +6

    Hey Rick,
    I just discovered your channel yesterday and it's the greatest channel i could find on youtube at the moment, you just give me answers about musical questions i had for a long time!
    I got a suggestion for a video : As a fan of soundtrack; i would like to understand the mechanics behind the dissonances (hope the word is correct..), how I could play with them in a logical way on a piano or why not, how to build dissonances in a strings section.
    Hope you'll read me, and keep it up!

    • @RickBeato
      @RickBeato  7 лет назад

      Will do Green Lantern. Thanks!!

  • @alvfaria
    @alvfaria 4 года назад

    Great video Rick! Thanks!

  • @SteveAstronaut
    @SteveAstronaut 2 года назад +5

    I like to throw in a bar or two of whole tone to add an instant 'Gong' factor to an improvisation. I'm thinking more of the Hillage era Gong but Holdsworth played in a later incarnation of the band.

  • @ezraabbey
    @ezraabbey 6 лет назад +1

    great video, rick! didn't know you were a holdsworth fan. rip allan, one of the greatest to ever do it.

  • @ashandesilvaguitarist
    @ashandesilvaguitarist 7 лет назад +1

    thanks for demoing it on guitar too rick! you're the best!

  • @justdope1963
    @justdope1963 2 года назад +2

    D augmented over C augmented and then reverse is clearly what was used by Elmer Bernstein in The Ghostbusters soundtrack. First shows up in library scene. Great scale lesson here.

  • @RecordingStudioRockstars
    @RecordingStudioRockstars 5 лет назад

    You rock Rick! Love your videos. 👍

  • @Classic_H_Radio
    @Classic_H_Radio 4 года назад +25

    This "five minute series" video feels twice as long to me... lol

  • @normanspurgeon5324
    @normanspurgeon5324 6 лет назад +20

    Knowing what notes make up a whole tone scale is easy. Going from a tonal context, which is what music is generally, to a non tonal, symmetrical scale, and then back again, is difficult. I'd like to see the chord progressions prior to the scale, and how the scale leads back to a tonal situation.

    • @sapiensfromterra5103
      @sapiensfromterra5103 4 года назад +2

      One example would be to go from A minor to C/E whole tone and back, very basic idea.

    • @enkiitu
      @enkiitu 2 года назад +1

      You could listen to Puccini’s three last operas, he goes back and forth all the time masterfully. Madama Butterfly, Turandot, II Trittico. Lots of examples. And especially in Turandot, bitonal music blending it with beautiful more traditional harmony. Really a master.

    • @raulcaldeira8071
      @raulcaldeira8071 2 года назад

      I really use this scale on for example II7 , like on take the a train for example and going from the 9 or 3 of II7 to the b3 of ii-7 is a cool way to "come back"

  • @richardsmith8704
    @richardsmith8704 3 года назад

    Thanks for the lesson!

  • @s.w.3604
    @s.w.3604 4 года назад +1

    Sounded like a King Crimson riff for a second at around 10:00 in. Good stuff!

  • @olivierherment1188
    @olivierherment1188 6 лет назад +6

    Merci pour tout le savoir que vous partagez avec clarté et simplicité

  • @Giselle1544
    @Giselle1544 6 лет назад

    Loved this lesson

  • @angusorvid8840
    @angusorvid8840 3 года назад

    I was just thinking, "This reminds me of Holdsworth" and sure enough at the end he mentions Holdsworth. Rick is the man!

  • @DavidDavrosWhite
    @DavidDavrosWhite 6 лет назад +6

    When you did D+ over C+ and then changed to C+ over D+, I instantly thought of Ghostbusters near the end. Absolutely brilliant sound.

  • @Don.G.Prince
    @Don.G.Prince 4 года назад +2

    Robert Fripp of King Crimson composed the great masterpiece entitled "Fracture" using these scales. Very hard song to master on the guitar!

  • @markparee99
    @markparee99 4 года назад +6

    Every 1950's horror b-movie score I've ever heard.has a lot of this

  • @akymrinkovsky289
    @akymrinkovsky289 6 лет назад

    That was hot. Thanks Rick

  • @bernab
    @bernab 7 лет назад +5

    Parts of Elektrik and Fracture from King Crimson. Also few parts of Steve Hackett, i think Lost time in Cordoba and one tune from Defector has the whole tone scale. Few moments in Henry Cow's music.

  • @acialist
    @acialist 7 лет назад

    Love It!!

  • @bluarcher5941
    @bluarcher5941 2 года назад

    There is a break in the middle of the Eruption suite by Focus (about 9 minutes in) that is a good example of this scale (as played by Thijs Van Leer and Jan Akkerman). I often wondered about it but now I see that it's an ascending and descending whole tone scale.

  • @atomdent
    @atomdent 5 лет назад

    Thanks Rick

  • @pipeline555
    @pipeline555 7 лет назад

    Thanks for your vídeos !!!!

  • @detlevgebers
    @detlevgebers 5 лет назад

    Great as always. I'll start right now writing some film scores. Hollywood here I am ;-)

  • @walterholland1251
    @walterholland1251 2 года назад

    On Squibb Cakes, Lenny Pickett uses a whole tone scale starting on the mirror third. Very cool.

  • @tomasrusso2285
    @tomasrusso2285 5 лет назад

    Awesome!

  • @crimfan
    @crimfan 7 лет назад +23

    King Crimson rides again!
    Rick, I really like the tone you get from that guitar. Mind talking a bit about your rig sometime?

    • @321Borny
      @321Borny 7 лет назад +5

      crimfan I agree!
      I'm hoping Rick will eventually do an entire studio run down

    • @markopolo2224
      @markopolo2224 4 года назад

      he did
      2 years later

  • @Elricwulf
    @Elricwulf 4 года назад +1

    6:56 Star Wars - John Williams' Desert themes.. same key and everything.. the John Williams score alternates between those 2 C and D Augmented in a kind of soft, lilting pattern and has some other little trills and things mixed in here and there.

  • @leo.israel
    @leo.israel 6 лет назад

    Rick you look like a nice beaver! love your lessons!

  • @seanandben
    @seanandben 5 лет назад

    Larry Carlton uses it very tastefully on "Emotions Wound Us So" from the Last Nite album.

  • @kanaK2Nakal
    @kanaK2Nakal 7 лет назад +16

    Reminds me of old black n white movies

  • @aghaanantyab
    @aghaanantyab 6 лет назад +34

    sounds like the music in john williams's star wars or indiana jones

    • @kaminandamusic253
      @kaminandamusic253 5 лет назад +7

      I heard Desert scene stuff in Star wars for sure. Those 2 stacked aug chords..

  • @M139NG
    @M139NG 6 лет назад

    Beatoful sound:)

  • @negritokimba1614
    @negritokimba1614 4 года назад

    thank you, vero good musicsian you are good profesional.

  • @cofieleven
    @cofieleven Год назад

    I like this one

  • @Paul_demian
    @Paul_demian 6 лет назад

    cool , im practising arabesque right now!!

  • @TomGoldsmithguitar
    @TomGoldsmithguitar 6 лет назад +1

    Shame you can't modulate on it) : knowing Rick though he'll find a way. What a lad!

  • @telsonater
    @telsonater 3 года назад

    I love your channel

  • @chris_geeeh
    @chris_geeeh 5 лет назад +9

    Odds that what Rick talks about occurs in... (dramatic pause) ...jazz: 100%

  • @jeymz361
    @jeymz361 4 года назад

    You should check out Shady Cicada’s video where he made a metal song using only the whole tone scale. He doesn’t break any of it down but he gets a lot of great sounds, riffs, and chords out of it!

  • @don_rosales
    @don_rosales 5 лет назад

    Reminded me of Saturn by Gustav Holst, I don't know if those are chords he used. Thanx for all the lessons, cheers!

  • @RandallLakedogpix
    @RandallLakedogpix 6 лет назад

    Thanks

  • @vesellin
    @vesellin 4 года назад

    The Bb augmented chord has both a flat and a sharp in it because the fifth BF is diminished, unlike all other fifths which are perfect. You could also say that the BbF is a perfect fifth, whereas all other perfect fifths either have 2 natural tones, 2 flat tones, or 2 sharp tones. So the augmented fifth from eg. C would be CG#, D would have DA#, but Bb has BbF#, or B has BFx.

  • @LH-iz1ul
    @LH-iz1ul 2 года назад

    I can hear this in Cannibal Corpse - From skin to liquid. Also a lot of movies like you said and they seem to use it a lot in Zelda games and other video games.

  • @instrumentalistjade8367
    @instrumentalistjade8367 7 лет назад

    Thank u..

  • @TheBoglodite
    @TheBoglodite 5 лет назад +1

    Dream Theater has a song in this scale called Overture 1928

  • @koreboredom4302
    @koreboredom4302 6 лет назад

    It sounds so "enchanting"...

  • @falloutfan2502
    @falloutfan2502 4 года назад +5

    Every Star Trek TNG episode, ever.

  • @M3Z4C
    @M3Z4C 7 лет назад +15

    Hey Rick awesome lesson, I learnt a lot. I just wanted to point out two tiny errors while filming. You accidentally said 3 white keys (instead of 4) at 4:25 and also at 4:35 you misspelled "Ab" in Db triad. You could put corrections in annotations. I don't want to be a know-it-all, I really appreciate all the work you do, so I just wanted to let you know :)

    • @RickBeato
      @RickBeato  7 лет назад +13

      You can't put corrections in anymore otherwise I would have. It's the music that's important not typos. The Db+ chord was played correctly so no need to do anything.

  • @israelcosta980
    @israelcosta980 3 года назад

    The intro of Beyond "Expressions of invencibility" is this exactly two chords...

  • @WilliamSlaght
    @WilliamSlaght 7 лет назад +1

    Dig you as a teacher, keep at it of course! Same thing I want to become. However, I was also taught that the Whole Tone scale isn't only an ambiguous/color scale, but could be seen as dominant harmony of which deceptively or authenticly cadences (or not). It can go to 6 tonics likewise how the diminished scaled can go to 4 tonics. Every tone in the whole tone scale can be seen as belonging to a dom7 b5 or #5 chord. However, I'm not sure if you go into the details of dominant harm., tonic harm., intermediate harm., etc. in this series of yours or if you're avoiding it, or if you see scales more in a modal sense of color. I'm just asking, and if there is a series of you covering this, then I would be interested in checking it out.
    Cheers, WS

    • @RickBeato
      @RickBeato  7 лет назад +1

      You are correct about the function as a dominant chord with Dom7#5 or Dom7b5 but here I am discussing the scale as a sound not its function. That will be in a future video. Thanks! Rick

    • @WilliamSlaght
      @WilliamSlaght 7 лет назад

      Rick Beato I can't wait till you get into that series!

    • @WilliamSlaght
      @WilliamSlaght 7 лет назад

      (Or video!)

  • @joedragich
    @joedragich 4 года назад +2

    Does that D+ over C+ remind anyone else of Ghostbusters? I swear, they did exactly that at one point in the movie score.

  • @davidmonroe9214
    @davidmonroe9214 Месяц назад

    I swear some of those chords I hear a bunch in the original Star Wars films....John Williams must've liked the whole tone scale :)

  • @ordinarypablo
    @ordinarypablo 6 лет назад

    hey rick, I got a question, wich instrument do you think have more posibilities to create, I mean, what instrument do you feel is the one that helps you the most expressing your self and composing what you want to compose, im a guitar player and a drummer but Im looking forward to learn piano, I just want to know your opinion, i,ove your videps btw

  • @emanuellandeholm5657
    @emanuellandeholm5657 2 года назад

    I love Debussy and King Crimson.

  • @CoffeeBreaks
    @CoffeeBreaks 7 лет назад +40

    Hi Rick! What DAW do you use?

  • @6u174r808
    @6u174r808 5 лет назад +5

    5:43 - 5:55 reminds me of Ghostbusters

  • @jackmille9787
    @jackmille9787 5 лет назад

    at the end, when you were in c+, why did you play a Gb+ scale? for example, if i am in A+, would it sound best to play an Eb+ scale ? sorry if this question is confusing, thanks!

  • @renatozanardo9648
    @renatozanardo9648 4 года назад

    Cheer Rick. Is it permissible to switch from an enharmonic to a harmonious mode? And what modulations can be made?

  • @philnewton3096
    @philnewton3096 5 лет назад

    I think there was a wholetone riff in a mandoline bluegrass break-Poss David Grissman?

  • @davidwhitaker2211
    @davidwhitaker2211 3 года назад

    I just realized that the whole tone sounds similar to Lydian since the 4th is raised rather than being normal.

  • @MichaelBurmy
    @MichaelBurmy 4 года назад

    I remember the whole tone scale we used in choir class:
    (up) "Charles Ives likes to use whole tones."
    (down) "Lights are on but no one's home."

  • @senseipaz5019
    @senseipaz5019 5 лет назад

    Hey Rick can you make a video about King Crimson and its sound??? ...Greetings from Bolivia

  • @horseshoe_nc
    @horseshoe_nc 6 лет назад

    The Db/Eb sounds like it is plucked from old B grade movies or The Twilight Zone. What is odd for me. I don't have perfect pitch nor good relative pitch. And both of those scales sound familiar.

  • @rkshores
    @rkshores 3 года назад

    Where can buy your book and maybe study with you .. Thanks

  • @noobslayeru
    @noobslayeru 4 года назад +1

    Can you talk about the brightness of this scale like you can talk about the brightness of modes of major and minor? If so, is it darker or brighter than major?

  • @pearljaime2
    @pearljaime2 2 года назад

    Metroid 1 Ridley theme. Got it

  • @SelfPropelledDestiny
    @SelfPropelledDestiny 3 года назад

    I’m hearing Holst’s The Planets. Maybe Uranus or Neptune?

  • @javiermedina5313
    @javiermedina5313 5 лет назад

    This is the easiest scale to work imo, even if you play all the 6 notes at once it sounds nice. You can literally do what you want with this scale and it will be sound decent. But you get tired very quickly if you don't use contrast in rythm and all that stuff.

  • @excuseyou7198
    @excuseyou7198 3 года назад

    I always here whole tone scales in Prokofiev etudes

  • @propmaster101
    @propmaster101 3 года назад +2

    8:04 for all the guitar players out there😂

  • @betolicks4071
    @betolicks4071 5 лет назад +2

    Its reminding me of star wars

  • @bringerovlight8412
    @bringerovlight8412 2 года назад

    👏👏

  • @krang07
    @krang07 6 лет назад +1

    7:13 scary ass incidental music. wicked

    • @krang07
      @krang07 6 лет назад

      Steve Hackett`s `a tower struck down` makes great use of this idea

  • @johncostigan6160
    @johncostigan6160 Год назад

    I will now dedicate my career to whole tone music...

  • @johnoconnor7918
    @johnoconnor7918 5 лет назад

    The Db whole tone scale has 4 white notes, not just 3!

  • @davidmortara
    @davidmortara 3 года назад

    I hear the opening chords to Disney’s The Black Hole, scored by John Barry.