1. Well my guitar teacher just told me that a diminished scale is a dimished seventh chord and that what everyone calls the diminished scale is actually the double diminished. I've never heard that is it true?
2. What would it be if you played a mode that was a part of the scale. Like if someones playing a D chord and you play a C# major scale. You could get some wicked dissonance and if you did it right it could sound pretty good. Of course chords and scales are different but scales were orginally taken from chords (or mabey the other way around). I'm learning jazz and chords and scales get mixed up in jazz (with chord scales and such), but he said that the diminshed scale W H W H W H was the "double" diminished scale, and the regular diminshed scale is W+H W+H W+H W+H (this is forming a chord out of minor thirds and it makes a diminshed seventh) and I have never heard that the diminshed scale as I know it was actually called the double diminshed scale (just think put two of those diminshed seventh chord scales one half step apart and you have what I know as the diminshed scale). "1. Well my guitar teacher just told me that a diminished scale is a dimished seventh chord and that what everyone calls the diminished scale is actually the double diminished. I've never heard that is it true?"
A diminished chord is constructed by layering 2 minor 3rds on top of each other.. creating a diminshed 5th (or tri-tone between the root and the fifth.. C (root) Eb (min 3rd) Gb (another minor 3rd from Eb, and a tritone away from C)
A double diminished (or FULLY diminished 7th chord) is two diminished chords on top of each other.. C Eb Gb Bbb (C/Eb/Gb all minor 3rds, then Eb/Gb/Bbb - again all minor 3rds and tritone from root to 5th)
There are 2 diminished scales. Each one is an 8 tone symetric scale constructed of a continual alternating series of Whole Step, Half Steps
So, in the Key of C you get C - whole step to D - 1/2 step to Eb - whole step to F - 1/2 step to Gb - Whole step to Ab - 1/2 step to A - whole step to B - 1/2 step to C =(C,D,Eb,F,Gb,Ab,A,B)
this scales provides you the notes of the double diminished (or fully diminished) 7th chord.. C Eb Gb Bbb( A)
thats what your teacher is talking about..
The second diminished scale is the opposite.. it goes 1/2 step then Whole Step alternating..
C Db Eb E Gb G A Bb - in addition to working over dim chords this scale works well with Dominant 7th chords especially with alterations like b9 #9 or b5
2. What would it be if you played a mode that was a part of the scale. Like if someones playing a D chord and you play a C# major scale. You could get some wicked dissonance and if you did it right it could sound pretty good.
That is only going to sound good if you can resolve it properly..
I think what you want to think about is more in this context, as a tritone sub...
a standard ii - V - I chord progression in the Key of C..
Dm7 (ii) G7 (V) C (I) you substitute a Db7 for the G7 (Db is 3 whole steps or a tritone away from G) thus creating this hip chromatic Dm7 Db7 C sound. though not a 100% answer to your question its helpful to know these
G F C natually Major
A E D Natually minor
B Naturally Dimished
Steps:
Augemnted
Major
Minor
Dimished
raise the 3rd to raise one step,
raise the 3rd & 5th to raise 2 steps,
kower the 3rd to lower 1 step
lower the 3rd and 5th to lower 2 steps
though you probably know this already, might be helpful for a reader scales and chords are two different things. A diminished triad is built on scale degrees 1-b3-b5. A half diminished chord is 1-b3-b5-b7. A fully diminished chord (dim7) is 1-b3-b5-bb7. Maybe that's what your teacher was talking about , the double flatted seventh.
A diminished scale starts on the tonic and then is built on alternating whole steps and half steps. - C-D-D#-F-F#-G#-A-B-C. There are only two of these, this one and the one that starts on C#. That encompasses all the possible notes.
Scales are modes. Major scale is the Ionian Mode and a natural minor scale is the Aolian Mode.
You can play any scale over any chord. It's just that some of them sound better than others. If you like dissonances, go ahead and experiment. | 