About Whole Step and Half Step Thing? (Teach ME Please?)
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 5 posts since 31 Jul, 2014
I was confused, I'm not a piano player but I understand the chords and scales progression but 1 thing in my mind is the whole step and half step they're talking about? I'm new here btw this is great forum thanks for your cooperation!
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- something special
- 8570 posts since 16 Mar, 2002 from Birmingham, Alabama
Every note on the piano is a half step apart. For example, take middle c, the key to the right is c# and is a half-step in distance. From c to the d is a whole step.
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- KVRAF
- 6800 posts since 20 Jan, 2008
Actually it's less of a piano thing and more of a chromatic thing. Guitars/ basses do a better job of representing chromatic distances then keyboards. A "Half step" or half tone is the equivalent of one fret up where as a "Whole Step" or whole tone is two frets up.
There are 12 notes in the chromatic system. A half step is the distance between one note and it's nearest chromatic neighbor. B-C, C-C# etc A whole step is one "whole note" away from it's nearest neighbor. C-D, D-D, E-F#
Lets take a look at the C Major scale and compare the distance of the notes with the chromatic (all 12 notes)
C-D-E-F-G-B-C
Look at the distance chromatically between the notes chromatically.
Whole / Whole / Half/ Whole/ Whole / Whole / ?
It's the distance in between that is measured.
Understanding the distance makes it easier to understand transposition and different keys (although practicing the keys is a more effective means of learning them so you don't have to think as much and you develop muscle memory in the process.
There are more scales then the diatonic (7 note scales) The Whole Tone scale is successive whole steps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_tone_scale
Another scale derived by using the step method is the Octatonic scale often referred to as the half / whole or the whole / half scale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octatonic_scale
In practice and performance. I used to practice in all 12 keys for all the scales that I knew but I'd rarely play songs in certain keys. (such as Db or Ab for example) I'd also play guitar in different tunings. Knowing the intervallic (distance of the notes for a given scale) relationship made it easier for me to work out songs in keys I was less familiar with. All I needed was to know what the starting note of the key is and the interval relationship of the scale.
The whole tone scale is a symmetrical scale as all the tones are exactly a whole tone apart.
As for the whole tone scale and the half whole I use them as "passing scales" When I come across certain chords. As an example a Dominant 7th Alt chord. Altered chords can have a flat or raised 5th or 9th. If the chord doesn't have a ninth I'll use a whole tone scale.
Example - Chord G7alt - GBC#F
G Whole tone scale - G-A-B-C#-D#-F-G
It's actually less thinking and the melody will easily align to the chord structure. If the 5th is omitted from the chord in usage (which is often the case in jazz comping chords) Then I'm free to use the whole tone scale over the chord as it won't bump into that D natural note.
In Jazz we treat the diminished chord as a symmetrical chord. All the notes are precisely a minor third apart. B-D-F-Ab The distance of a minor 3rd is a whole tone plus a half tone. We call the standard four part diminished chord a mb7 example B-D-F-A
The Octatonic scale is another symmetrical scale. In jazz we refer to it in usage as the whole-half or the half-whole dependent on the value it has to playing over a chord structure. The whole half is often used over the m7b5 chord while the half whole is often used over altered / extended chords such as the Dominant 7b9 or #9
Taking a look at the half whole scale starting on G we get
half-whole-half-whole-half-whole-half-whole
G-Ab-Bb-B-C#-D-Eb-F
If we spell out "G" chords with this scale we get.
G, Gaug, G#5 G7, Gb9, G#9, G#11, G7b13
C{whole step to ) D,
D (whole step to) E
E (half step to ) F
So all (ionian) Major scales can be determined by the distance of the notes
There are 12 notes in the chromatic system. A half step is the distance between one note and it's nearest chromatic neighbor. B-C, C-C# etc A whole step is one "whole note" away from it's nearest neighbor. C-D, D-D, E-F#
Lets take a look at the C Major scale and compare the distance of the notes with the chromatic (all 12 notes)
C-D-E-F-G-B-C
Look at the distance chromatically between the notes chromatically.
Whole / Whole / Half/ Whole/ Whole / Whole / ?
It's the distance in between that is measured.
Understanding the distance makes it easier to understand transposition and different keys (although practicing the keys is a more effective means of learning them so you don't have to think as much and you develop muscle memory in the process.
There are more scales then the diatonic (7 note scales) The Whole Tone scale is successive whole steps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_tone_scale
Another scale derived by using the step method is the Octatonic scale often referred to as the half / whole or the whole / half scale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octatonic_scale
In practice and performance. I used to practice in all 12 keys for all the scales that I knew but I'd rarely play songs in certain keys. (such as Db or Ab for example) I'd also play guitar in different tunings. Knowing the intervallic (distance of the notes for a given scale) relationship made it easier for me to work out songs in keys I was less familiar with. All I needed was to know what the starting note of the key is and the interval relationship of the scale.
The whole tone scale is a symmetrical scale as all the tones are exactly a whole tone apart.
As for the whole tone scale and the half whole I use them as "passing scales" When I come across certain chords. As an example a Dominant 7th Alt chord. Altered chords can have a flat or raised 5th or 9th. If the chord doesn't have a ninth I'll use a whole tone scale.
Example - Chord G7alt - GBC#F
G Whole tone scale - G-A-B-C#-D#-F-G
It's actually less thinking and the melody will easily align to the chord structure. If the 5th is omitted from the chord in usage (which is often the case in jazz comping chords) Then I'm free to use the whole tone scale over the chord as it won't bump into that D natural note.
In Jazz we treat the diminished chord as a symmetrical chord. All the notes are precisely a minor third apart. B-D-F-Ab The distance of a minor 3rd is a whole tone plus a half tone. We call the standard four part diminished chord a mb7 example B-D-F-A
The Octatonic scale is another symmetrical scale. In jazz we refer to it in usage as the whole-half or the half-whole dependent on the value it has to playing over a chord structure. The whole half is often used over the m7b5 chord while the half whole is often used over altered / extended chords such as the Dominant 7b9 or #9
Taking a look at the half whole scale starting on G we get
half-whole-half-whole-half-whole-half-whole
G-Ab-Bb-B-C#-D-Eb-F
If we spell out "G" chords with this scale we get.
G, Gaug, G#5 G7, Gb9, G#9, G#11, G7b13
C{whole step to ) D,
D (whole step to) E
E (half step to ) F
So all (ionian) Major scales can be determined by the distance of the notes
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- KVRAF
- 1800 posts since 10 Feb, 2007
