Jazz Scales - Diminished Scale & Double Diminished Chord

If you like this Jazz Piano Tutorial, please subscribe: / walkthatbass
For more information please check out my website: www.thejazzpianosite.com/jazz...
In this series of videos I cover everything you need to know about Jazz Scales, including but not limited to:
- How scales are related to chords (the Chord-Scale System)
- Why you can use different scales over the same chord
- Commonly used jazz scales including: melodic minor modes, bebop scales, whole tone scale, diminished scale, pentatonic scale.
This Jazz Piano Tutorial is about the diminished scale.
The Diminished Scale is:
- An Octatonic Scale (i.e. it has 8 notes)
- A Symmetrical Scale (i.e. the intervals repeat in a pattern)
- There are only three possible diminished scales:
- C = Eb = Gb = A diminished scale
- B = D = F = Ab diminished scale
- Bb = Db = E = G diminished scale
This is similar to the Diminished Chord, which is made up of intervals of minor 3rds and repeats at intervals of minor thirds.
For example, Cdim7 chord = Eb dim7 = Gbdim7 = Adim7
The repeating interval pattern of a diminished scale is semitone-tone-semitone-tone OR half step-whole step-half step- whole step and so on. There are two diminished scales, which are really just modes of each other. And they get their names from the interval pattern that create them. They are:
The Half-Whole Diminished Scale - used over a Dominant 7 chord
The Whole-Half Diminished Scale - used over a Diminished chord
Where Db whole-half dim scale = C half-whole dim scale. This is because Dbdim7 is a (rootless) substitute for C7b9.
In this lesson I also cover how to alter the diminished chord to make it more dissonant and the double diminished chord.
If you enjoyed this Jazz Piano Tutorial, please subscribe

[@NoiseJunkiesTV]

I've been watching jazz tutorials for piano on KZbin for a while now. This is the first video I've watched of yours and it's the most concise, the most well explained, and the best demonstrated tutorial I've seen. Thanks for the upload and I will be watching more of your videos.

[@WalkThatBass]

Thanks, Noise Junkies. Very kind of you. Hope you like the other ones too. Let me know what you think.

[@philhargreaves5109]

That’s the clearest lesson on diminished scales I have seen. Thank you.

[@metallica3604]

this channel is destined for groundbreaking legendary content

[@WalkThatBass]

+Avisek Ganguly Haha. Thanks Avisek.

[@ammiammi1974]

What a great lesson. Clear, precise and concise. So very helpful with the charts. Can't thank you enough. Do really appreciate your work. Cheers.

[@hestefrelst]

These are the kinds of videos I've been looking for! Really great work man, keep it up :)

[@WalkThatBass]

+TheSchnoo Thanks, Schnoo :)

[@badalthapa8044]

You are great teacher !!!

[@olimorrismusic]

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you so much!

[@WalkThatBass]

No worries, mate. Glad to hear it :)

[@zachariegabon2832]

Thank you sir for explain me that very well.

[@juncarlocarao3439]

another treasure found in youtube.. thanks a lot..

[@joyfullmusicexploring-thom5093]

this is the best jazzdope youl get on yt

[@alexp2699]

Many thanks for these useful explanations !

[@WalkThatBass]

+Alex P Glad you found it helpful, Alex :)

[@turpohd7541]

Even doe being a bass-player, i got all the answers i sought. Very well explained video - keep up the good work!

[@senujohnseyido67]

Wowwwww, you’re a great piano teacher, pls I want more, dimish walk up

[@rufnsluf]

Terrific lesson! You really helped clarify a confusing subject.

[@WalkThatBass]

+rufnsluf rufsluf No worries, rufnsluf.

[@eilirmusic]

Thank you very much!

[@WalkThatBass]

No worries :)

[@robviolin1]

well explained.

[@marinduque-theheartoftheph]

Monstrous double diminished chords from a channel with humongous content. I'll stick around and hopefully "walk with giants" someday soon! 😂😊😄

[@boricua77]

Diminished scale is the minor scale of 1/2 up tone. Example: C dim scale is almost the same notes of C# minor scale. I used that asociation and work for me.

[@saadalhumaid8043]

Really good lesson Thanks alot from Saudi Arabia

[@WalkThatBass]

My pleasure, Saad! Thanks for the comment :) Greetings from Australia! (Sorry for the late reply, I just got back from a holiday)

[@Traderjesus]

Also if you lower any of the notes in the Diminished 7th chord by a half step, you get a dominant seventh chord. Therefore you can get 4 dominant 7ths from a diminished 7th chord

[@oneeyemonster3262]

it makes a DIAMOND shape and fully SYMETRICAL...Lets say your in A harmonic minor. The last mode is a FULL DIMISHED....G#, B, D, F or B, D, F, G# or D, F, G#, B, or F, G#, B, D. In other words...you alter those basic arpeggio..Play the (Vi) ;F diminished instead of F maj. You can also play that F as Min as well.....AUGMENTED chords are also symmetrical (C, G#, E) (G #, E, C) (E, C, G#).....There's FULL DIMINISHED and AUGMENTED chords in the MAJ HARMONICS...as well. There's AUGMENTED chords in the MELODIC MINOR....THESE FULL DIMINISHED arnt going give you the ( WH or WH...only)..It's going to give DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF THEM. In other words...MIX it all up.LMAO.Such as ....HOW in the FUCK can you PLAY G# diminished or G# AUG and still be within the scale...Those are fucken MAJORS and minors..hahaaaaaa.....FUCK it just use the WHOLE TONE if you get lost...it'll give you Diminished , aug and Dominant.

[@BlikeNave]

Wow... never saw that before, great trick!

[@senujohnseyido67]

Hmmmmmm

[@Wiloptic]

Wait! At 4:05 when u start building a chord on the scale using thirds starting from C I thought the third will be D# not C Since its the 3rd counting from the tonic Can you please explain?

[@icu12cme]

Hi, I (as I mentioned elsewhere on another of your videos) always called the half whole diminished scale the ultra diminished as I didn't know anyone else used it, I now see why. My use emphasises the root note of the scale as the key centre and rather goes against the 'rule' of it fitting with with a rather secondary dominant seventh chord, but instead being the flowing menacing tonality on it's own around a root note unrestrained by overt chordal presence. I have an example on B.C. (Sorry it won't let me post the link)

[@WalkThatBass]

Yeah, it's a pretty cool sounding and versatile scale. Use it however you see fit.

[@orangeguy5374]

When playing a double diminished chord instead of a dominant chord, would it have the same root note or would it be a half step higher?

[@MoechtegernPimP]

hello. it would be amazing if you get in detail about melodies in a modal song that uses this chord. I feel like "Some skunk Funk" from the brecker brothers uses something like this^^

[@BAwesomeDesign]

Heh heh. But of course, following that logic, a C major scale is just a CMaj7 chord with a Dmin7 chord on top of it ;) Cool stuff man. I knew about the symmetry of the dim chords before, but this sheds some new insight (esp. with the flat 9s). I knew intuitively that there was something special about diminished chords--and the same with tritones. There's a certain alchemy between the two that can unlock jazz I think. Thanks again for the vids.

[@WalkThatBass]

No worries, BAwesomeDesign. You're right in that a C Major scale is like a CMaj7 + Dm7 which itself is essentially just a CMaj13 with a natural 11 (I have a video about why a chord is really a scale and the 'chord-scale system'). But the difference between this and the diminished scale is that playing a CMaj7 + Dm7 is not allowed because the Dm7 has an F which is not an 'available tension' over the CMaj7 (again, I will publish a video on available tensions this weekend). But essentially all is means that because the F is a flat 9 interval above the E, it can't be used (kind of like an avoid note). However, if you play Cdim7 + Ddim7 (with the Ddim7 on top) then there are no flat 9 intervals between any of the notes and therefore no 'avoid notes' or no 'unavailable tensions'. So while you're allowed to play a Cdim7 + Ddim7; you're not allowed to play a CMaj7 + Dm7. Sorry, this is all very technical, but it's an interesting point you make. Thanks for the comment.

[@whywhyhk]

Hey! Love the videos. One quick question! How do you stay motivated? Why don't you get tired of this? Or is it just that you enjoy it. Sorry if my question sounds aggressive.

[@WalkThatBass]

+CryoPenguin Hey CryoPenguin. My motivation waxes and wanes. Sometimes I enjoy it; sometimes I cbf. But I try put a few hours aside each weekend to plan/record/edit videos. Not sure there's anything more to it than that. This is my first attempt at a KZbin Channel, so it was really just a fun little experiment.

[@melputra919]

How do you label the chords of C dim ? Thank you from 1 to 8? Thank u

[@BSMusicS111]

Kinda complicated but i almost understand it and that's an achievement 😂

[@lukaipictures9448]

8 chords at the price of 1! You drive a hard bargain!

[@jordanwillrog]

Snake charmer 😂 awesome description

[@enockmberia3237]

A wesome.

[@perpol18]

I'm sorry if this question sounds too dumb, but how do I pick the right scale to be played with each chord? I get the concept of scales itself, but it turns out unuseful for me, because I can't grasp what chord to be used with it (talking about all the scales I know). I'm really confused (just started studying jazz-harmonization a few weeks ago by myself and I can't seem to find it). I don't want to be playing diatonic major scales for the rest of my life :(((

[@WalkThatBass]

It's not at all a dumb question. This is one of the most important questions to ask for anyone first starting out with Jazz. And I've made a video on exactly this topic right here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bX-6aYt4ZcR5r6c It's entitled: 'Why you can use different Scales over the same Chord '

[@BlikeNave]

Don't dismiss diatonic major scales... they have great potential! Within the basic major scale you can find whole tone intervals, tritones, brutal half-steps and fantastic extended modal harmonies like the classic and colorful 'lydian maj.13 (#11),' or 'dorian minor with a natural 6.' Just because it's diatonic and major doesn't mean it's boring! The secret for me to making the diatonic interesting is to simply modulate, and play the familiar diatonic things in a new, refreshing key. Anyways... as to what scales and chords to play- I just stack every other note of the scale (this is harmony stacked in 'thirds') to find the appropriate chord (C major scale [CDEFGAB] stacked with every other note will give you the chord: C E G B aka C maj 7). Do the opposite to find a scale to solo over a chord: if you see C major 7 (CEGB), then play any scale that has those chord tones. The 'color' tones [2, 4, 6 aka 9, 11, 13 in the higher octave] are generally like extra credit to the harmony, rather than essential. So with this C maj. example, you have the freedom to play 'C lydian' [CDEF#GAB] OR 'C ionian' [CDEFGAB] over the chord 'C maj. 7,' because both have the same chord tones (root, third, fifth, seventh), the rest is all color baby! It would be a personal choice as to whether or not you want the sound of the F# color tone from lydian, or the basic F from ionian. Scales are like seven-lettered musical 'alphabets', and chords are just 'words' spelled from skipping around the scale in fixed patterns. Typical chords have harmony stacked in thirds (every other note from the scale), but you can do 2nds (notes right next to each other in the scale) or wider intervals like 4ths (two scale degrees between each chord tone) and 5ths (three degrees between each).

[@gerstleTube]

Been really loving your videos, keep it up! You should consider going on Patreon to get more support. These explanations are really clear and easy to understand, but I have a question about something that's probably a bit ambiguous doesn't have a clear-cut answer: if the Dbdim is equivalent to C7b9 and vise versa, how do you figure out whether to play H-W or W-H diminished scale? Also, how is diminished applicable to altered chords (b9#9#11b13)?

[@WalkThatBass]

Thanks for the suggestion, Brian (and the donation). I'll look into Patreon. So Db W-H is exactly the same as C H-W, so it doesn't really matter which one you play. The difference is only in which root note you emphasise. Generally - over a Dbo chord, use Db W-H; and over a C7b9, use C H-W. Even if you voice a C7b9 as a Dbo chord I would use the C H-W to emphasise the C root note (which will probably be resolving to an F chord in the next bar). So because the notes in the C H-W diminished scale create the chord C13b9#9#11. You can use this scale over any altered dominant chord. Playing a C7b13 will create a little bit of dissonance/tension because the diminished scale has a natural 13 (A) rather than a b13 (Ab), but that's not really a problem in Jazz. Creating a bit of tension can actually work quite well. So you can you the H-W diminished scale over any altered dominant 7 chord. Though it might sound a bit funny on a extended but not altered dominant chord - like a C9 (The Db and D# in the scale with clash with the D in the chord). Does that answer your questions?

[@vdvoskin1]

I am trying to figure out the following; A) Do I have a gift of being able to play what i hear in my inner ear that most people do not have (or have not developed), and the only way that they can play is to memorize formulas and use-cases, similar to a software algorithm? B) Do all these theorists arrive at the same result of being able to play right from their inner ear, but learned to do this a lot faster than i did by approaching things theoretically, instead of listening to a lot of music and trying to reproduce it on the piano? C) Maybe the goal is to transcribe or compose by writing the score down without playing it?

[@juncarlocarao3439]

me too, I cant play by ear.. all I've done is know the theory and apply it.. but I really struggle in jazz and blues... but videos like this help so much..

[@Bahimo3154]

12:22

[@charlesislaw]

The is an Avoid note?

[@voitball]

Why is the b3 a #9 instead of a b3?

[@blink182lives100]

Lil pump explaining the diminished scale: “semitone semitone semitone semitone semitone semitone”

[@viplavksmusic]

Can you suggest an example of phrase where this scale is used

[@WalkThatBass]

Check out Coltrane's 'Moment's Notice' at 2:07 kzbin.info/www/bejne/naDGeJ-IqrxkmNk He plays a very quick and classic diminished scale riff. It's been transcribed a million times. See bar 74-76 here: bp2.blogger.com/_k6dJQm9SNOQ/RydsF2gi79I/AAAAAAAAADM/UW1RS18VM78/s1600-h/moment%27s+notice+2.jpg

[@inkazasegentille7352]

NICE MN

[@visiontranscend60]

Thanks. Although I really wouldnt call this Jazz. This is Has its origins in the dark department of impressionism.

[@evertdude]

Hi I appreciate you teachings and work, i've learned alot from it. But one thing I wanna point out is that you talk very fast!

[@aggelosk3013]

Your mind is slow it’s not his fault

[@evertdude]

Aggelos K I did not stay I didn’t understand anything because he speaks fast on the contrary I understood everything clearly and competely. It is rather bit discomforting when someone talks fast, talkin slower or more peacefuller would just be more comforting thats all. My mind works perfect and doesnt need to be judged by you an outsider whom I dont know nor knows me. And your comment was based on a wrong assumption I forgive you

[@antonmakhatilov8008]

10:35 why do we have F# for C Half-whole scale? I got F (( helppp))

[@normanspurgeon5324]

Every note in a scale should be able resolve somewhere- assuming that "tension" tones want to resolve to a note of less tension- why not talk about that?