oNTHEcD :l$ rnacxs ss-sa

missingfour notes are A, C, D# and F#).

Apart from being used to playover

Diminished cadenza diminished chords, the diminished scale can

alsobe used in another way. Ifvieued from E.
F##. A# orC#. tbe G# diminished scale could
be seen as a half whole sequence, producing a
Shaun Baxterwraps up his series on the diminished scale thal is sdLable lor dominanrchords
scale by discusslng how to maintain yourvarious | (because iL has a major third. perfect fi ft h and
] dominant seventh). E half-whole scale:
patterns and licks via an unaccompanied solo. Y2 - 1 \h 1- \t - 1-Y2 1

FF##G+A#BC#D
t b2 +23 #4 5 6h7 1

I n jazz, fie dimi nished

scale gets used more in
pie-.wdtten, and are usuallyplayed this half-whole form than it does in the
in a'ftee'rhythmic style, often whole-half form, because dominant seventh :
r#s#s
(AM
"YOU
allowing displays of virtuosity.
For the recording ofthe GT
CD, I wanted to record something
that souDded spontaneous, soI
chords are more common than diminished
seventh chords.
This morth's solo uses the E
scale throughout (see diagram 3). For. ease
half-whole
of
-

MAKE hdr
HA,I-F*WIJOLtr
wentto Phil Hilbome's studio
merely armed with a few written
readin8, note t}lat F## will be shownas G
within the transc ption.
notes describing !'arious Because ttre performance was impmvised, I
AGalx..". elements that I wanted to include had to take ttre recording home to transoibe it.
in the piece: these were quite Like all unaccompalied performances, I was
vague, such as 'sweep-picked able to slow down or speed up when I liked; as
arpeggios','symmetrical tapping well as compress or shetch a few bars herc or
shapes' etc. This gave the solo a there; however, it's important that the
'shape'yet left me unrestricted. tmnscriptiofl is readable, so I've tded to
The beauty ofthis approach is produce something that reprcsents a sersible
tlat, as soon as it has been working compromise between what was played
played, you've created a new and what was intended.
piece. It may be a bit rough Don't be put offby all the odd note
around the edges in places; but groupings. Unfortunatd, there's no avoiding
you will have the fiIst draft of them. If I werc to transcribe one ofyour
something that can nowbe unaccompanied improvisations, I'm sure that it
refined both as a composition and would be tuI] of odd note groupings as well;
as a polished performance. however, each trme you approach a w tten
So 1br, we have seen how the passa8e it wiil help iiyou take a srep back in
diminished scale is an eight-note order to tryto underctand the underlying
entity (classical musicians l ow mental concepts used during the original
it as the octatonic scale). It is also performance. Basically, it usuallyboils down to
known as the whole-half scale, recognising the prevailiug shapes and patterns,
because it is composed entirely of and thenjust thinking in terms ofvarious
consecutive tones and semitones: destination points: when you do this, the
m G+ diminished scale:
1/, - 1-
rh)'thms should take care of themselves.
See you ne1(t month. Il
OOOaO Advanced G+ A+ C#DE
B

ffiun 12b34b5b6bb771
To comprehend how this scale works, it's uselul
GETTHETONE
llj E
TEMPO: l08bpm
l
a oiminished xate mowhdge
to understand t]le s),mmet cal properties of
]7
Bleadth oftonality
the diminished chord.
CD:TRACKS53-54 !Zljna@mpaniedimrovisalion L
A diminished chord is the harmonic
IN GT 175, WE looked at an unaccompanied equivalent of a square, and comprises four
6ArN
solo (loown in music as a cadenza) using the equal inter/als (see diagram 1). This s),rl1metry 'r,tOOlE

whole-tone scale, Cadenzas are a great way of means that B dimT has the same notes as Because I preferto usea Fender Strat, also
erploring and maintaining your working Ddim7, FdimT and c#dim7, and, following this employed a distortion pedal (in this case Phr
knowledge ofvarious scales, as well developing logic, it can be said that all the notes in Western Hilborne! rignature model) because the pickupt
your crcativity and technique in general. This music can be covered byjust tlree diminished aie mu.h weakerthan humbuckers and so need a
litde helpio.reate ro.k distortion toner. Alsothe
month, we're going to use a similar cadenza to seventh arpeggios (see diagram z).
sound was bathed an a bright plate reverb similar
mnsolidate much ofour recent work on the So, an eight-note scale like G# diminished to that u1pd byfdwdrdVan Halenon h.l fdmous
diminished scale. can be seen as comprising just two
oftle three cadenz4 Eruptaon {from Van Halen li.
Cadenzas can be either improvised or four-note diminished seventh arpeggios (the

TBACI( REG0BD,Althoug hyou'll hear the diminished scale u$da lot injazz andjazz-rock - nobben tord'sjazzier lioks ofton have thein basis
in tho dlminishod scale - American gultarlst J0hn Scofiold uss8 it as much as aMody.lf you havon't heard any ofthe gr6at sco's music,l can
hoadlly recommend his albums StllllYarm, Blue ilatter and Loud,razz,

70G itaflbclmiques June 2010

 Dtllltilt$HrD c[[EilzA

B D F G: iBdn? Dd Fdm?edcld )
tE tll c D, F' A i.dm, Dlin, Fad{!AdF?l
., E G A: t.h17 EdnT cdmT dAbor

B t3D ol-.:-io DIAGRAM 3 E HALFWHOLE SCALE

G,-/ -\-B
Fi(/\/ I
I
tt>,f 1\
^)c
"l
Gl E\,/D
DI

GDTRACKS4
lBars l-2lThe solo kicks offwith a pretty straiqhtforward blues/rock motifusing half-whole scalewith two notes nrissing (ausmented 9th and a major6th).
notes of E half'whole that are in common with the pentatonic scale. ThroLrqhout the tBars 7-81 ln the se.ond ha fofthis line, the same four not€ motifi! shifted down in
solo,youwiilnoticethatikeepreturningtoanddevelopingtheoriginalthemelnan intervah ofa minor third.
attempt to gluethe various elements together. IBar 9lThi5 is the 6rst of many bars that feature the exploitation ofsymmetrical
JBars 3-41The f6t diminished line is based around notes ofthe tri lone lcale frnqering,wherebythesamedigitalfingerinqpatternissimplyshiftedupordown
(something thatwe havestudied before n Creative Ro.k),wh,ch is effe.rive ythe the quitar neck in intervals ofa minor third.

. = na ftee y) N.c.

---'--

'

-7

lune 2010 Guitat'Ib.chniques 71

 r

JDY CD TRACK 54
tBar lOl lateralshifts of sym metri.a I f ngerings here. This sequence shows tBar 131so far, ea.h motif has been shifted either up or down in intervak ofa minor
half-whole s.ale (as wellas the whole-halfscale) contains two different
how the ^4ore third (three frets)j however,ln this line lt! shifted up in intervals ofa diminished fifth
diminishedseventharpeggio!:inthiscaseFdiminishedseventh(whichisthesame (the same a two mlnor thirds).
asG*, Band Ddiminlshed seventh)and Ediminished seventh GameasG,A*and C# lBars 14-1sl This section features a sweep-picked arpeggio motifshifted down in
diminished seventh). minorthnds. Each motlf is based around a majortriad, but hasa major sixth note D

i----:----\

t 5+

3 15 16-16-15 13 15 1
2-14-15-15 14 1
14-13-11 1
2-10 12 1

72 GuitarTechniques June 2ol0

 Dtiiltilts1ltD cADtilzA ttAnl|lilBZ0ilt

I as the lowest note (thu! givlng u! E6,C#6, 4#6 and G6). With these shapes, I often
CDTRAGX54
abridged version ofthe original blues/ro.k rifffeatured in bars 5-7 - revisitinq a motif
play a minor reventh intervalat the base innead (q iving E7, C+7, At7 at'd G7). like this is common in improvisation-
lBar 161 Here, the top three notes ofthe previous four arpeqgio shapes are iinked tBars22'25llcouldntresistthissection,justsoyouhadsomethingtoplaythat
via rome ear catching slides. was overtlysymmetrical. Large stretches like this give llnes unusual butvery
IBars 18{9] This section alternates between some as.ending six-note motik and an ch a racteri5tic m usica I q ualities.

o ro 13 iov 10 .

lune 2010 Guita/Iechniques 73

 Lrbburr: t;HtAl lllt ltt,t;l(
lBars 251 Here again, ltied to echo an earller theme by playing a reversed version of thirdlntervals(threefretstret.hes)forawalk,culminarngintherepearFdtapping
rh-.i/ ror -o,if,hd fedLJred nbdr!l8and20 lick in bar30.
IBars23 30llnanefforttobringthingstoaclimax,lstartedtakingsomemtnor IBa.s30lFinally,thesoloconcludeswlththeobl gatoryhighEbend.Thisis D

12 'i2-1g-1s-12 1

-=

1 6 j,
"

74 GultarTbchniques lune 2010

l JfI l5r!l J:fr.I E.TIIE il
followed by a descendinq series ofmajor triad5 (asain, sh fted down i. -: :.:-
intervals), and a relatively svaightforward descenrthrough the E ha f !vho,€ i.;
(although there isa chromati. D+ passing note atthevery srar0. Note hoy/ even th.

tf: ---

t;('] I ;j llI ilt I llliI T

l/
I
I il Hr I[11 ll.'{H il I
I tl I iIt iir
ll' I

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.rune 20l0 Guitar?echniques 75