Augmented or Whole Tone

The Augmented or Whole tone Scale is not able to be classified into Major or Minor because of it’s unique harmonic characteristics.

The Augmented scale is generated by playing every other note, starting from anywhere, until you reach the octave. Logically, there are only two Whole Tone scales. One starting on C and another on C#.

This produces a wonderfully open, undecided, and definitely spacey sound. Take advantage of it! However, be careful. The Whole tone scale does not agree tonally with any key center except itself.

It can be used in improvisation within standard key centers but only with a passing phrase, as you will surely hit some dissonant notes that will need to be resolved.

It’s great to improvise on the Whole Tone scale for a spell as an ensemble, before resolving to a previous or new key center. This is a sure way to go “deep space”.

The great French composer Claude Debussey favored the whole-tone scale and used it increasingly in his later compositions.