I am going to write to a great extend about a scale I use a lot in soloing, and which is in the same time a great finger exercise. The scale in question, as you figured out from the title, is the Whole Tone Scale. A lot of people haven't even heard about it, but if you are into Progressive Metal, or Jazz, you must have heard it a lot of times. Those of you who enjoy classical music can hear a masterful use of this scale in the music of Claude Debussy and the other Impressionist era composers.
I want to say that English is not my native language and I do my best to write in an understandable manner, so if you find a spelling error or a not-so-good phrase, don't blame me a lot :)

Some theory behind the scale

(a lot of this material demands at least basic knowledge of music theory, mostly intervals and triads/seventh chords, enharmonic substitutions, so I recommend reading on that first, there are a lot of guitar lessons on the Internet regarding basic theory. I don't want to make this post longer, just to explain something a lot of people already know.)
The Whole Tone Scale is made of DIATONIC WHOLE STEPS only, so there are no half steps in it, as is the case in other scales. The scale has six scale degrees(seven, if you count the I after the VI), one whole step apart. The scale is considered very fluid, and if used extensively - atonal, as it does not have a dominant(perfect 5th). That same lack of typical dominant makes it a very unstable scale, and asks for a careful usage.
Here is a diagram of C whole tone scale all over the neck, and below it in one octave in tablature and standard notation. I used Guitar Pro for some of this. Note: some software tend to use Bb, and some tend to use A# as this scale's sixth note.Those are practically the same notes on the neck. Don't get confused. Click on the image to enlarge. I have made this in two variants, the lower one is Guitar Pro
The fact that there are no half-steps(thus no leading notes) in this scale causes constant melodic and harmonic tension with no resolution, so it's overuse results in monotony, because every melody tends to resolve, and WE expect it to resolve. It is recommended to use it with style, in limited amounts. But I think it's OK to overuse it if you are writing a song that is in a fantastic, surreal context, or if you use it to describe a particular emotion. Recommended listening is Debussy's Prelude no.2 Book I. There is a variation of this scale that actually has a leading note, inserted chromatically between the VI and I, which stabilizes the scale a little bit, but the whole-tone-feeling is a little less expressed. Here it is:
Triads and seventh chords derived from the Whole Tone Scale All the triads on all scale degrees in the whole tone scale are augmented (in further text: aug). This type of triad dominates in whole-tone passages. But, due to enharmonic reasons (M2=bb3, #4=b5, #6=m7, #7=8=1) there are two more types of chords available with the Whole Tone Scale. I will now list them for you and explain.
An augmented triad, aug or +, is the typical triad built on all scale degrees in a Whole Tone Scale. It's spelled 1-3-#5, and for example C+ is C-E-G#. I will continue using the C Whole Tone Scale for examples.
A double diminished triad is also possible to build on a scale degree of a whole tone scale, instead of an aug triad. It is spelled 1-bb3-b5 so in C whole tone we get C-Ebb-Gb. Some of you probably wonder what are those two notes doing in a C Whole Tone scale, which has E and G#. The answer is really simple - enharmonic substitution. Ebb=D, and Gb=F#, and we have both in our C whole tone scale. There probably are some other names for this triad, but I learned it like this, so if you have another name for it, write me and I will make a note about it.
A b5 triad is made if we keep the regular 1 and 3, and instead of a raised 4th(#4) take its enharmonic replacement- the lowered 5th(b5) - thus making a full chord by trick :D. It's spelled 1-3-b5 and if we apply it to C, we get C-E-Gb. That's a Cb5 or C-5 chord, some call it "altered b5" but for the sake of simplicity, we'll call it a b5 chord.
Now let's talk a little about seventh chord we can build on the scale's degrees. Because of enharmonic reasons (#6=m7, #7=8=1), we can only add a minor seventh(m7) to form a septachord (seventh chord) within a Whole Tone Scale. Shortly, we add a minor seventh to all three triad types I listed up there.
An augmented seventh chord is made when we add a m7 to an augmented triad. It's spelled 1-3-#5-m7, and a chordal example is C7#5 = C-E-G#-Bb(Bb=A#). Beginners, don't replace a m7 interval with a minor seventh chord, a m7 interval is a part of a Dom 7 chord, i.e. C7 = 1-3-5-m7.
The Scriabin Chord is made when we add a m7 to the double diminished chord explained above. The chord got it's name by a famous composer named Alexander Scriabin who used this type of chord very much. It's spelled 1-bb3-b5-m7. I really don't know how to call this chord, as I never encountered an English name and a chord symbol of it, but here it is: C-Ebb-Gb-Bb. It's symbol can be "o7" if you your dim chord symbol is "ø7". I will just call it a Double Diminished Seventh. If you happen to know the English naming system and symbol for this one, send me an E-mail, and I will rename it. In Serbian music language we have a strict delimiter for this type of chord and triad.
A 7b5 chord is made when we add a m7 to the b5 triad. It's spelled 1-3-b5-m7 and it's chord symbol is 7b5 - in example C7b5 = C-E-Gb-Bb.
All these seventh chords belong to the group of Altered Dominant 7th chords. Of course we can go more complicated than this :) but I will be short. On top of two of three listed septachords - The 7#5 and 7b5 - we can add a M9 and make a highly typical 9th chord(nonachord) for the whole tone scale - Whole Tone Dominant 9th which has 5 of 6 different scale notes of the Whole Tone Scale in it. Those chords are: 9#5 (1-3-#5-m7-M9 | C9#5 = C-E-G#-Bb-D) and 9b5 (1-3-b5-m7-M9 | C9b5 = C-E-Gb-Bb-D). These chords are perfect fits for a Whole Tone Scale melody. OK, to make this yet more complicated :) you can make a chord that has all 6 different notes of a Whole Tone Scale in it, by adding the only left note/it's enharmonic substitution to 9#5 and 9b5 chords, thus making the whole scale fit into one chord. In the first case the 9#5, that note would be F#, making an 11#5 chord, and in the second - 9b5 case, we would add a #5 to the 9b5 chord, making it a 9±5 chord, which has both altered 5th's in it - 1-3-b5-#5-m7-M9. Don't try this at home, kids :), as these chords are not so beautiful for the ears.

Using the Whole Tone Scale

This will maybe be a little confusing, but I presume that people interested in something not so basic, have a basic theory and chord symbol knowledge. Beginners, you can freely move on to the patterns, diagrams and exercises if you don't dig theory much. This scale can be played over any #5(+5) or b5(-5) chords and all the already mentioned chords in the theory part, but it's best fits are 9#5, 7b5 and 7#5 chords, because the Whole Tone Scale contains all the chord tones of those chords. So over a C7#5, a C Whole Tone would be a great fit. (C7#5 = C E G# Bb; C Whole Tone = C D E F# G# A#(enharmonic to Bb) C). The scale is heavily used with "7+/-5 chords", and in combination with #9 and b9, fits ALL the altered dominant chords i.e. 7#9#13, 7#5b9 etc...
The Whole Tone Scale can very effectively be used as a tool for modulation, as it easily dismisses a tonality and opens a potential way to modulate to even a most distant tonality with a small melodic/harmonic movement. You can hear examples of that in music of Claude Debussy, especially in his Preludes. Beginners can skip the next part freely.
(You can try it out yourself right now, play any I-IV-V7-I for a few times, for example E major (E-A-B7-E) and then, once when you get to the V chord - B7, start playing a B whole tone scale from the 7th fret on the low E up to 14th fret on the B string...then hold the note for a bit, you'll see that there is NO clear tonal center, and then play, let's say - the 15th fret on the E string for a few seconds(we're still in the B Whole Tone scale), then move one fret up and play the 16th fret on E and B strings, and 17th fret on G string together, and let the E string note ring out. Congratulations, you've successfully modulated from E major to G# major! What you really did there is: you dismissed the E Major by playing a whole tone scale against it's dominant - B, lost it almost completely by playing the whole tone scale almost two octaves up, stopped at C#, and than when you played the C#(14th fret, B str.) and the F##(F double sharp - same as G, 15th fret, E string) you actually played the seventh and the third of D#7 chord, and by that you silently entered the tonality of G# (D#7 is the V7 of G# major), now we just needed to confirm that tonality, and what better movement to confirm a tonal center than V7-I, and guess what you did :) That F## note is in fact G# major's LEADING NOTE, and by moving one fret up to G#, you confirmed the tonality of G# major, I added a few notes under it just you can get the point! Wasn't that easy. And may I mention that E major and G# major are pretty distant tonalities with very little in common., only the C# and D# notes) You can modulate back, applying the same principle. After this - definitely no more theory...
Scale patterns
This scale is very interesting to play on the guitar, because all the intervals are the same, and the fretting shape is same on all the strings, just moved one/two frets up/down the neck. here are a few patterns I use a lot, and find them really easy. Some of these start on the open low E, so it's a great finger warm-up. Also, it lets you move across the neck quickly and...um...weirdly. Click the link below to open the JPG file.

Whole Tone Scale patterns

Due to my lack of free time to dedicate to this blog, I must split the lesson in two parts. The next part will be more practical, with licks, patterns, chord diagrams of some chords you can play over, all with sound files and guitar pro tablature. It is taking too much from my free time to make it all for this post, and my PC is falling apart and screaming for an upgrade :). I hope you found all this useful. Leave a comment if you want :)
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