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(Key of A)
1. Start out by getting rid of that b9 (Bb) until you figger out how to make it work. This will leave you with a very user-friendly boogie-woogie scale.
2. To compose your Subdominant change don't move your hand; instead, convert your A scale into a D boogie-woogie scale.
3. To compose your Dominant change don't move your hand; instead, sideslip your D scale down a semitone to the E boogie-woogie scale.
4. Find a swing chord progression to compose on- avoid bebop/2516/1625/etc until you figger things out.
*In the end, you'll soon see that chromatics, enclosure, & bebop scales, etc, etc are/were simply biproducts of side-slipping diminished scales all over the neck of your guitar. The sound of Jazz will occur on it's own as long as you play in context with these scales!
*This is not easy. Your finger exercises likely won't work at first.
*Don't "play" these scales at first; instead, "compose" phrases with a cadence per chord progression.
*Don't play along backtracks - use your imagination instead.
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03-21-2026 10:37 PM
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So, I’m immediately lost. The A diminished pitch collection doesn’t have a b9?
A root
B 2nd
C m3rd
D 4th
Eb b5
F# b6
G# 7
Maybe I’ve been thinking of the wrong note as the root
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I think the OP is referencing the use of the half whole scale on a dominant chord (I think?)
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Shouldn't the diminished scale have a bb7? Because the chord does
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You would start this scale on the B note..to see the b9 degree
Originally Posted by AllanAllen
the diminished is an 8 note scale ..your example needs the F note
A B C D Eb F F# G#
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Diminished Whole-Half vs Diminished Half-Whole, and each of their three inversions (like modes), and the multiple choice of tonic assignment make the diminished scales kind of amazing and pretty wonderful. They've been a deep part of the historic Jazz sound that seems to be less popular these days. I still like 'em.
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This is an intriguing post, but I'm wondering if it contains an error or two. It seems to be referring to A HW. And the boogie woogie scale is A C C# D# E F# G? Is that much correct? Originally Posted by Average-Joe
Then, for the IV chord, the post suggests switching to D F F# G# A B C. Is that right?
For the V chord it suggests moving the D down a semitone to E boogie woogie. Shouldn't that be up a whole step?
As written it seems to be saying Db boogie woogie (Db E F G Ab Bb C) is the same as E boogie woogie (E G Ab Bb B Db D). The HW scales would be the same (Db D E F G Ab Bb B and E F G Ab Bb B Db D) so maybe that's the idea.Last edited by rpjazzguitar; 03-22-2026 at 04:22 PM.
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The term "boogie-woogie" scale is new to me, what do not-average-joes call it?
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I can't think that way when I play music.
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Fact is, they won't even issue a boogie-woogie license to someone who does. Originally Posted by Zack
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Sweet, I've only been practicing it wrong for 2 months. This is why you need a teacher kiddos. Originally Posted by wolflen
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Well, a quick google shows at least 5 different scales called the boogie-woogie scale, so good luck getting any consensus on the greek name. Originally Posted by Mick-7
1 3 5 6 b7
1 b3 4 #4 5 b7
1 #2 3 5 6
1 b3 4 b5 5 b6
1 2 b3 3 5 6
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Originally Posted by wolflen
Cool, Allan discovered a new scale, the melodic minor b5, for which he will become world famous. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
But it sounds very familiar, may be an Indian scale.
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https://guitarcompendium.com/pdfs/fr...que_book_2.pdf
I tried to tell you; diminished scales are amazing and wonderful.
DIM scale can make 7 scale degrees equal 8 named notes.
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Speaking of the blues, diminished connection, Robben Ford is pretty handy with this scale. One I transcribed ages ago.
From this solo somewhere - I forget where exactly
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I discuss Holdsworth's use of the Dominant-Diminished at length here at 29:13 (it's bookmarked in the vid)
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The second one of those is the standard blues scale, FWIW. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Diminished scales are indeed amazing and wonderful and sit awkwardly on the guitar and probably all instruments. There's a proofreading error in the Cdim scale (which you circled): the numerical recipe leaves out the b6 even though it's correctly listed in the note names. Lest that confuse anyone. Originally Posted by pauln
https://guitarcompendium.com/pdfs/fr...que_book_2.pdf
I tried to tell you; diminished scales are amazing and wonderful.
DIM scale can make 7 scale degrees equal 8 named notes.
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I can hear the dim. scale over dominant chords but I'm in still in the experimental stage with it re: non-dominant chords, i.e., major and minor 7th chords. The best application of it for, say, a Major 7th chord seems to be whole/half starting from the root, #11th or 6th chord tones (= half/whole scale starting from the 7th, 4th or b6th chord tones).
For example, for C^7, you'd use this dim. scale: C -D -Eb -F -F# -Ab -A -B.
And maybe combine it in some way with: B-(C#)-D-E-F-G-Ab-(Bb).
The notes that are not diatonic to the major/lydian scale, i.e., Eb & Ab, can be used as approach notes to scale tones, e.g., Eb up to E, Ab up to A or down to G (the b6th is a common bebop tone over the maj.7 chord).
The note sequences must be worked out a bit lest you create monsters, although I don't mind the good looking ones.....
Slonimsky's book has some good ideas on this.Last edited by Mick-7; 03-25-2026 at 08:27 PM.
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Just pondering about this for a minute: is there a non-experimental stage of anything in jazz? Isn't it all an experiment all the time?
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I gathered that by "experimental" the op meant that you don't know the scale well enough to be able to improvise with it. For me, it's no longer "experimental" when I can hear how it can be applied harmonically - but there is usually room for improvement.
Last edited by Mick-7; 03-25-2026 at 10:39 PM.
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No Originally Posted by Cunamara
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