Scale Skills Diminished Capacity

-byHoward-Roberts _

T

he diminished

scale is simple in

construction,

be considerably

but its application

can

more involved than

other scale types. Playing the diminished enough:

It’s composed

consecutive

scale is easy of nothing but

whole- and half-steps.

shows a one-octave

diminished

Ex. 1

starting

on low E; Ex. 2 shows the most obvious fingering.

the

solo

vo'tce

Youmay have trouble getting the sound of thediminished scaleinyour mind’sear,solet’s do someexercises to improvethat beforewe discusshow the scaleis used.First, play a seriesof half- andwhole-steps up anddown eachstringto lockin the sound.Thefingering, shown in Ex 3, iseasy. Dothisexercise unul you can singeachnote before you play it. Thenplay I%.4 slowlyanddeliberatelyto get thestructumof thescaleinyour handsandthe colorin yourears.Totakefull advantage ofthe diminishedscale,its soundin variousharmoniccontextshasto becomesecondnature. That is,you shouldbeableto stopyour solo line at anypoint--lie freezinga frameof a film-and singthe nextnotein the line.This sho& applyto anyimprovisation:Yourtingersare theremerelyto carry out the commandsof your ear,andif your fingersaregettingconfusing signals (ornosignals at all),then your fingerswill stumblearoundaimlessly. Playingwellrequireshearingwell. Ex. 5 showsa diminishedscalein fifth position(withthe 1stfingeratthe5thfret),and Ex.6 showsthe fingering.Sincethisinvolves no openstrings,theformcanbemovedto any otherposition.Ex.7 isan exercisethat takes you further into the scale. Nowlet’slook at the upperoctaveof the scaleandconsider itsapplication. Thehrststep is to figureout which scalestepsarerepresented.Ex.8 showsthemin the keyof A (the tonic of the scale). What chord residesin the scale?It’sAi‘, because the root,3‘5, andlowered7 (A, C#,E, GJareprominent.That meansthe scalefits a dominant chord, but becauseof the other pitchespresent,it’sanaZtere~dominant chord. Thealterationsb2(orb9),b3(or#9),andb5(or #l 1)areallpartof thesequence. Sothedimiiishedscalecan be played over dominant chordsandwill yield altered9 andraised1I sounds.Playthe scaleover the chordsin Ex. 9 to attuneyour earstome alteredsoundsof the diminishedscalein a dominantcontext. The secondtype of diminished scale beginswith awhole-stepratherthan ahalfstep.This changehasharmonic implications,but first let’sgetfamiliarwith thescale. Ex. 10[page561showsthe notes,andEx. 11 givesthe fingering.UseFL 12to train your earsandfingers. Tounderstandthisscale’s harmonicrole,

1 DIMINISHED CAPACITY Ex. 1

’

A n y

G yzyu

l/2

Ex. 2

1

112

1

1

”

8 etc.

0

Ex. 3

1

1 3 1

b. 4

Ex. 5

lookat itscontents,asshownin Ex.13.Asyou Ex. 6 cansee,findingadirectuseofthisscaleisgoing to betricky. WhenplayedoveraD dominant chord,for instance, it yieldsbothanaturaland a raised9, a loweredand a raised5, andlookingat it anotherway-a natural and a

V

1 2 4

%

DIMINISHED CAPACITY 1 *he Ex. 7

sol-

vofice

lowered 6. This high-tension tonal material is complicated by the major-7th interval between the tonic and the 7th degree. That sound doesn’t easily fit a dominant-7th chord. So how can you use this dished scale? Actually, its complications make up its best quality-the potential for giving your solo an “outside” sound. Because this scale breaks the boundaries, it can create a lot of harmonic propulsion in dominant contexts. Like a chromatic scale, it’s ambiguous, but-unlike the chromatic scale-it also demands resolution Experiment with the scale over the chords in EK 14. In these dominant domains, the major 7 should be used as a passing tone. When you get a knack for its sound and feel, use the scale when you want to place a foot “outside.” n

I I

Ii

Ex. 8 root

b479)

b34-9)

6(13)

b7

8

Ex. A7#9

A7#11

A7b5b9

A13b9

I

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1 DIMINISHED CAPACITY Ex.10

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Ex.11

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Ex.13 1

2

b3(#9)

4

b5 b6(#5)W3

h7

Ex.14 D7#9 . R i Burnrlde

. SO”noms . ot,s R”Sh

. John Cephal

. Jlrnnl”

McDowell

Reed

D7#5

56

tub13

D&s

‘how.’ these pieces get straight to the blues thmush the eves of the

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3

8