The diminished scale is part of a category of scales called ‘symmetric’ scales, which are characterized as having a repeating pattern of intervals dividing the octave into equal parts. Among the symmetrical scales, diminished is unique for the various sub-patterns of intervals and triads embedded within, making it endlessly applicable and interesting.
In this article, I want to share a system I’ve used to help internalize this mysteriously layered scale to memory, so that it flows more freely in improvisation and composition. If you’ve been looking to incorporate more diminished sounds into your playing/writing, or if you’re just looking for something new and interesting to practice, read on.
The diminished scale is an eight-note symmetrical scale, built on the pattern of alternating half and whole steps:
(half-whole variant) H W H W H W H W
(whole-half variant) W H W H W H W H
For our purposes, we’ll focus on the half-whole variant. If you started the scale on C, it would look like this:
C, Dd, Eb, E, Gb, G, A, Bb
The half-whole pattern repeats itself every third note, or every three half steps. Due to this, look at the collection of notes when we start on Eb, the third note in the C diminished scale above:
Eb, E, Gb, G, A, Bb, C, Dd
It’s the same collection of notes, just starting on a different root. The same goes for starting on Gb and A - same collection of notes, different starting point.
What this means is that the C, Eb, Gb, and A diminished scales are all actually the same scale, they just start on a different note in that scale. If you extend this to all possibilites in the 12-note octave, you’ll find that there are only three diminished scales in total, each with 4 possible starting points:
Family 1: C, Eb, Gb, A
Family 2: Db, E, G, Bb
Family 3: D, F, Ab, B
In practice, this means that when you are playing any given diminished scale, you are smultaneously playing the 3 other diminished scales in its family. Suddenly the ‘root’ note doesn’t seem so significant anymore!
This is useful because it gives you a system for thinking about the application of the scale in practice, and unlocks a toolbox of potential patterns. In the following section, I’ll illustrate one.
One of the most interesting characterizations of the diminished scale are the triads within. On each of the roots of a family, you could play a major triad, a minor triad, or a diminished triad, all work with the notes of the scale*. Let’s focus on major triads.
A great way to practice internalizing each of the three families is to work on permutations of these triads starting from each root of a family. For example, I might start with alternating between a C major triad and an Eb major triad (permutation 1 below), playing up one, down the other, switching every 4 beats of a metronome.
Once I felt comfortable with that, I would switch to alternating C -> Gb major triads (permutation 2), then C -> A major triads (permutation 3). Then, I would start on the next root in the family (Eb), and follow the same pattern (Eb -> Bb, Eb -> A, Eb -> C, etc.).
Here is a short list of permutations as a baseline for practicing this concept:
Permutations
What this is training your mind to do is to think about any given triad as part of a family of triads within a given diminished scale. When I ‘think’ C major triad, I immediately ‘think’ Eb, Gb, and A triads as well. This creates the potential for very interesting patterns in improvisation and composition.
Here’s a specific example: when I see a G13b9 chord on a lead sheet (a specific dominant-diminished sound in jazz harmony), I want to immediately ‘think’ E, Db, Bb, G major triads. In other words, my mind immediately thinks Family 2. I don’t want to necessarily have a pre-planned pattern in mind, my goal is to be able to freely flow between each triad. Practicing the scale like this enables that freedom.
Within the diminished scale, there’s repeating patterns of fourths, fifths, minor/major thirds, triads, and any combination of the aforementioned you can think of. The minor pentatonic scale is even present wihin the scale. Combining these with time-based vectors or odd note-groupings makes for an endless list of practice and composition ideas.
If you’re looking for some concrete examples of the sound of the diminished scale with soundbytes from Coltrane, Brecker, Herbie, and others who popularized its sound, check out this excellent article from Jazzadvice: 10 Diminished Patterns for Jazz Improvisation.
And if you’re interested in the use of the diminished scale in metal, check out just about anything by Meshuggah.
Meshuggah - Marrow - Fred’s 2nd solo is one of my favorite uses of the diminished scale
Meshuggah - Do Not Look Down - The main riff, in 17/8 over 4/4 time, is 100% dimimished and a great example of the pentatonic scale hiding within the half-whole diminished
*Note - We’ll assume we are always referencing half-whole variant of the diminished scale.