The half-whole diminished scale is one of two possible diminished scales. The other is whole-half diminished.

Half-whole diminished is a very useful scale over dominant b9 chords. The name of the scale describes how its constructed: alternating half steps and whole steps. So, for example, a C half-whole diminished scale would be: C, C# Eb, E, F#, G, A, Bb, C. Over a C7b9 chord you have a root, b9, #9, 3rd, #11 (or b5), 5th, 13th (or 6th), and dominant 7th. Another way to think of it is root, b9, and the 3rd, 5th, and dominant 7th each with a lower half step approach note. This is a great scale to use when you want to add some color to a blues solo. You can use the half-whole diminished scale that corresponds to the root, 4th & 5th chords. You can also substitute a half-whole diminshed scale that is a tritone (flat 5th) from the root of the chord. So, for a blues in C you could play a C H-W dim scale over the C7 chord, move the scale down a half step and play B H-W dim over the F7 chord, move back up to C H-W Dim when the chords change back to C7, and then move up a half step and play Db H-W Dim over the G7 chord. It sounds complicated, but is easy & intuitive once you hear it a few times. There are some unique elements of this scale. Any pattern you play will also work if you move it up or down by a minor 3rd. As mentioned above, you can move any pattern by a 4th by moving the pattern down a half step or up a whole step. You can move any pattern by a 5th by moving up a half step or down a whole step.

Use half-whole over dominant b9 chords or any diminished chord that might function as a dominant b9 chord. So for chords that are written as dominant b9 (C7b9 for instance), you can use a H-W dim. scale beginning on the root of the chord. So, C H-W dim over C7b9. OR, if there is a diminished chord that functions as a dominant b9 chord. Heres an example. Take a look at the first 6 bars of Jobims tune How Insensitive: | Dm9 | Dm9 | C#dim7 | C#dim7 | Cm6 | Cm6 | In this example, C#dim7 functions as a G7b9 chord. How do I know? Anytime I see a diminished chord Im going to look ahead to see where its resolving to. In this case its going to a C minor chord. The most common chord progression in western music is a dominant 5th chord resolving to a one chord, so the most likely suspect here is a G7 chord of some type. So, a half-whole diminished scale starting at C# gives me: C#, D, E, F, G, G#, Bb, B. The same notes as G half-whole diminished! So, carrying this logic further, C#dim7 is enharmonically equivalent to Gdim7, E dim7, and Bbdim7. And it follows, then, that any of the four can substitute for G7b9 and be the root for a half-whole diminished scale that will resolve to C (major or minor). Where the diminished chord is resolving to will tell you whether to use halfwhole or whole-half diminished. Often you will find a strong resolution note a half step below a H-W diminished note, but I dont think its a hard & fast rule. Most of the time when you see a diminished chord it is a disguise for a dominant b9 chord.

Dominant b9 lines can be constructed by playing 2 diminished arpeggios a half step apart. Think about this: 1. There are only 12 possible notes in the chromatic scale 2. Diminished arpeggios are constructed of 4 notes each a minor 3rd apart. This makes them symmetrical. 3. Since they are symmetrical, you could consider any of the 4 notes in the arpeggio as the root. 4. That means there are really only 3 possible diminished arpeggios that are unique (i.e., whose notes are not present in another arpeggio). 5. Any half-whole dimished scale is made up of 2 out of the 3 possible unique arpeggios. For example, G half-whole diminshed would be composed of the G, Bb, Db, E arpeggio (remember, any of the notes could be considered the root) and the G#, B, D, F arpeggio. These 2 arpeggios comprise all of the notes of G half-whole diminished. An excellent source of half-whole diminished patterns is Nicolas Slonimskys Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns. I will outline here some melodic patterns from Slonimsky as well as some of my own ideas inspired by Slonimsky. Page 52 outlines the various intervals within the half-whole diminished scale. Examples 1 - 5 are a few useful patterns over C7b9 chords: (See Example 1- 5) Examples 1 &2 are Slonimskys divisions of C Half-Whole Diminished into major 3rds and 4th, respectively. These and all other examples listed here are moveable in minor 3rds. Example 3 is a triplet figure using 4ths a minor 3rd apart. The 4ths are offset

between triplet pairs and each pair of 4ths is separated by a note a tritone above the first note of the next pair in the sequence. Examples 4 & 5 are constructed by alternating major 3rd & 4th intervals within the scale. Examples 6 - 18 show continued interval studies from Slonimsky, along with interesting patterns created by combining and altenating the various adjacent intervals: (See examples 6 - 18) Examples 6 through 10 present an open, floating sound that suggests Pat Methenys style: optimistic 4ths & 5ths over a dark dominant b9 chord. Examples 11 through 18 explore the more dissonant, darker elements of the scale and suggest the playing of John Scofield or Derek Trucks. Lastly, H-W Blues is an example of an improvised chorus over a blues in C that demonstrates some of these ideas. H-W Blues uses all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. I hope you find this analysis of the half-whole diminished scale to be helpful in developing your own ideas for improvisation over dominant chords. Please share your comments and ideas! http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/jazz_guitar/files/Members%20Files/G raphics%20%26%20PDF%20Files%20/Halfwhole%20diminished%20studies/