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Chord & Fret
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GuitarElectric guitarCavaquinhoUkulele

Whole tone (C)

There is no half step anywhere: every note sits exactly one whole tone from its neighbor — hence the name. Without the half steps that pull the ear toward a resting point, nothing sounds like “home,” and the mood is floating, hazy, dreamlike. Because the pattern is perfectly regular, only two distinct versions of the scale exist — any transposition, in other words the same recipe started on another note, lands on one of those two. In practice it colors augmented dominants, the 7(#5) chords, a sound prized in Impressionist and modern writing; the #6 in the formula is the same pitch many books spell as b7.

Example: C – D – E – F# – G# – A#Formula: 1 – 2 – 3 – #4 – #5 – #6

In the formula, the numbers are degrees — positions counted in the reference major scale; "b" lowers a half step and "#" raises one.

Family: Symmetric scales.

They repeat a regular intervallic pattern, which allows internal transpositions — the diminished scale, for instance, repeats its structure every minor third.

The same scale on all four instruments

Scale diagramHorizontal fretboard with 6 strings, frets 0–4.12343#4#5#6123#4#5#6123#4#5
Guitar
Scale diagramHorizontal fretboard with 6 strings, frets 0–4.12343#4#5#6123#4#5#6123#4#5
Electric guitar
Scale diagramHorizontal fretboard with 4 strings, frets 0–4.123423#4#5#61223#4
Cavaquinho
Scale diagramHorizontal fretboard with 4 strings, frets 0–4.1234#5#61233#4#5#61
Ukulele

In the diagrams, each dot carries its scale degree — 1 is the tonic, highlighted.

What you see above is one box of whole tone per instrument; the full map lives in the app. In Chord & Fret, you press play and watch each note light up on the diagram the instant it sounds; walk the scale's positions along the whole neck; and run it up, down or in a full round trip. Start free. Unlock everything with Pro. 100% offline. See it in Chord & Fret →

See the full scales guide →