Piano scales

Scales source and guide for musicians

Octatonic Half Whole Scale

The Octatonic Half Whole Scale consists, as the name implies, of eight notes (an octatonic scale is also used as a term to describe any scale with eight notes in it), and alternates half and whole steps. There are two different versions with intervals ordered contrarily. The Octatonic Half Whole Scale is, for example, used to improvise over dominant seventh chords with flatted alternate ninth, such as 7b9.

Directly related to the Half Whole Scale is the Whole Half Scale (a.k.a. the Diminished Scale), which also includes eight-notes. Its formula is whole, half, whole, half, whole, half, whole, half instead of the half, whole, half, whole, half, whole, half, whole as in the Half Whole scales. Thus, the difference between the Half Whole Scale and the Whole Half Scale is that they have opposite formulas, one starts with a whole step and ends with a semitone and the other starts with a semitone and ends with a whole step.

Octatonic (Half Whole) Scales overview
C: C, Db, Eb, E, Gb, G, A, Bb, C
C#/Db: C#, D, E, F, G, G#, A#, B, C#
D: D, Eb, F, F#, Ab, A, B, C, D
D#/Eb: D#, E, Gb, G, A, A#, C, C#, D#
E: E, F, G, G#, Bb, B, C#, D, E
F: F, Gb, Ab, A, B, C, D, Eb, F
F#/Gb: F#, G, A, A#, C, C#, D#, E, F#
G: G, Ab, Bb, B, Db, D, E, F, G
G#/Ab: G#, A, B, C, D, D#, F, F#, G#
A: A, Bb, C, C#, Eb, E, F#, G, A
A#/Bb: A#, B, Db, D, E, F, G, G#, A#
B: B, C, D, D#, F, F#, G#, A, B

Intervals: 1, b2, b3, 3, b5, 5, 6, b7
Semitones: 1- 2 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 2
Formula: Half, Whole, Half, Whole, Half, Whole, Half, Whole