The Diminished Scale
Most of the scales covered so far are diatonic scales containing seven notes only. The diminished scale however contains eight notes with an alternating sequence of semitones and tones. There are two different types of diminished scales : pattern A S T S T S T S T or pattern B T S T S T S T S. The first diminished scale pattern A is mainly used over a dominant chord, e.g., C7(13), whereas the second pattern B fits better over a diminished chord. There are only three different keys for each diminished scales as outlined as outlined in the following examples. All other keys are covered in this three keys and contain the same notes because the structure of the diminished scale is symmetrical, e.g.,
the C, Eb, F# and A diminished scales contain all the same notes.
The notes of pattern A and B are linked together, e.g.,
the Cdim scale of pattern A contains the same notes as the Dbdim scale of pattern B,
The C#dim scale of pattern A contains the same notes as the D dim scale of pattern B etc.
The next example illustrates the C diminished scale using pattern A: S T S T S T S T.
This example illustrates the C diminished scale using pattern B: T S T S T S T S.
Example 307 and 308 are based upon the notes of the C diminished scale using pattern A.
Example 309 and 310 are based upon the notes of the C diminished scale using pattern B.
