A Whole Tone Scale on guitar
A symmetrical 6-note hexatonic scale where every note is separated by a whole step (2 semitones). It creates a mysterious, dreamlike, or weightless quality with no single tonal center.
The notes of A Whole Tone Scale
Built on A, the scale degrees spell out like this. The degree is the number you would call that note relative to A:
RiffRoute writes every accidental as a sharp. A sharp and the flat above it are the same fret, so A♯ is B♭ and so on.
Where it lands on the fretboard
Every fret from the open string up to the 12th that belongs to the A Whole Tone Scale, string by string. Root notes are highlighted.
- Low E: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11
- A: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
- D: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11
- G: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
- B: 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
- High E: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11
Your anchor points: A is at fret 5 on the low E string and fret 0 on the A string. Start every pattern from one of those and you always know where home is.
Because every interval is identical, any note can function as the root. Great over augmented (+5) chords.
Chords that fit
None of the chord shapes in RiffRoute's library fit inside the A Whole Tone Scale using only its own notes — it is a scale you play melodically over a drone or a single sustained chord rather than harmonising it.
Other A scales
Same starting note, different colour. Switching between these over one A chord is the quickest way to hear what each scale does:
- A Major Scale
- A Natural Minor Scale
- A Major Pentatonic Scale
- A Minor Pentatonic Scale
- A Blues Scale
- A Harmonic Minor Scale
The Whole Tone scale in other keys
Practise it in the app
A list of frets only gets you so far. RiffRoute shows the A Whole Tone Scale lit up on a full fretboard, plays it back and lets you practise it against a backing track.