Whole-tone scale

Formula

Degrees: 1 2 3 #4 #5 b7 (or 1 2 3 #4 #5 #6).
Steps: T T T T T T (six whole tones).
On C: C D E F# G# A# (or Bb). On C#/Db: Db Eb F G A B.

There are only two different whole-tone scales: the one on C (C D E F# G# A#) and the one on C# (C# D# F G A B). Every note of the scale can be the tonic: it is Mode 1 of Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition. It expands on the overview in “Symmetrical scales: whole-tone and diminished”.

Properties

Total symmetry: all intervals between adjacent notes are equal, so there is no natural tonal center; the tonic is asserted only by the bass, repetition and rhythm.
Interval vector <060603>: no semitones, no perfect fifths, no minor thirds; only major seconds, major thirds and tritones (prime form 6-35).
It contains two augmented triads (C E G# and D F# A#) and three tritones (C–F#, D–G#, E–A#).

Color

Dreamy, floating, unreal, suspended: the absence of semitones and perfect fifths removes all “gravity”. In TV and film it is the conventional sound of dream, flashback and magic (the whole-tone harp glissando).

Derivable chords

Augmented triad: C+, D+, E+, F#+, G#+, A#+ (all belonging to just two families).
Dominants with an altered fifth: C7#5 (C E G# Bb), C7b5 (C E Gb Bb), C9#5, C9b5, C9#11: the whole-tone scale is the scale of the 7#5 / 9#5 (“augmented” dominant) chord and of the 7b5.
The French sixth (Ab C D F#) is a whole-tone subset: that is why it sounds so “Debussyan”.

Use in genres

Impressionism: Debussy, “Voiles” (Préludes, Book I) is almost entirely whole-tone; passages in La mer and in Pelléas et Mélisande.
Russian music: Glinka, Ruslan and Lyudmila (the theme of the wizard Chernomor descends by whole tones); Rimsky-Korsakov.
Jazz: Thelonious Monk (whole-tone runs in many solos and themes, e.g. “Four in One”, “Trinkle Tinkle”), Wayne Shorter; over V7#5 → I.
Soundtracks, cartoons, TV: dreamlike transitions, magic, hypnosis.
Progressive rock and metal: dissonant whole-tone riffs (often with distortion).

Melodies and harmony

Whole-tone phrases descend or rise “endlessly”; to give direction, you exit the scale toward a diatonic note (e.g. G7#5 → C, with the D# rising to E).
The bass must pin down the tonic: pedal or ostinato.

Common mistakes

Staying in the scale too long without a rhythmic or bass anchor: after a few seconds the listener loses orientation (sometimes this is the intended effect).
Mixing the two whole-tone collections without intention.
Thinking of it as “major with something”: it has neither a perfect fourth nor a perfect fifth.

Exercise

Whole-tone harp (or synth pluck) glissando on C as a transition between verse and chorus of a song.
Over G7#5 → Cmaj7 play the G whole-tone scale (G A B C# D# F) and resolve D# to E.
Write 8 “dreamy” bars with alternating C+ / D+ pads and a slow whole-tone melody, then close on a diatonic major triad.

Symmetrical scales: whole-tone and diminished; Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition; Altered chords; Lydian augmented; Set theory (2).