The modes of the octatonic (diminished) scale
The octatonic (diminished) scale heard from its named rotations: Half–whole, Whole–half. Each in order of brightness, to hear over a drone, with its colour notes, its chords and the ones that announce it, and a shape on your neck.
A mode is a scale heard from a different home
Play the C octatonic (diminished) scale but start and end on its 2nd note, D♭, and it sounds like a different scale: the same eight notes, another home. Start on its other notes and you have its modes, in their natural order: Half–whole, Whole–half. The octatonic scale is symmetrical: starting on every other note gives the same scale again, so its eight notes make only two modes, half–whole and whole–half, taking turns round the ring.
The catch: your ear only hears the new home if something holds it down. Played alone, D♭ to D♭ still sounds like C octatonic (diminished). So every example on this page plays over a drone, a held note on the home. Press a note on the ring to make it home.
Home on C
C Half–whole
jazz, film, bebop
R♭2♯23♯456♭7
The same eight notes as C octatonic (diminished), C D♭ D♯ E F♯ G A B♭, started from its 1st note.
The order of brightness
Now put both on the same root, C, and sort them from the brightest to the darkest. With eight notes the degrees don’t line up with the major scale’s, so brightness here is where the notes sit on the circle of fifths: the further round to the sharp side, the brighter. The brightest is Half–whole, the darkest Whole–half; the notes that change from one row to the next glow.
Two modes on C, one octave each, over one drone.
The dots wear the site’s interval colours: flats are drawn darker and sharps lighter.
The chords of each mode
A scale of eight notes doesn’t stack into 3rds, so each note shows the first chord that fits in the scale: major, minor, sus4, sus2, diminished or augmented, or a dash where none does.
Each chord wears the colour of its job, as on the key and progression pages. Press one to hear it, or ▶ to hear the mode’s chords in turn.
The two modes
Each on C: its notes with the colour note glowing, its chords, a shape on your neck, what it feels like, and the chords that say it, to hear.
How to hear a mode
- Hold the home down. A drone, a looped chord or a bass note on the root. Without one your ear drifts to the parent major key.
- Lean on the colour note. Play the scale’s pentatonic and touch the glowing note on a strong beat: Dorian’s 6, Lydian’s ♯4, Mixolydian’s ♭7, Phrygian’s ♭2.
- Compare on one root. Play C Ionian then C Mixolydian over the same drone. One note changes, and you hear exactly what it does.
- Use the vamp. Two chords are enough to set a mode up. Loop one and improvise over it.
The other families
The other families, each on its own page: the major scale’s modes, the melodic minor modes, the harmonic minor modes, the harmonic major modes, the double harmonic major modes, the major pentatonic modes, the Hirajoshi modes.
Look it up
The scale pages have every mode in every key and position.
Questions
What are the modes of the octatonic (diminished) scale?
Two scales, each starting on one of its notes: Half–whole (from the 1st), Whole–half (from the 2nd). The octatonic scale is symmetrical: starting on every other note gives the same scale again, so its eight notes make only two modes, half–whole and whole–half, taking turns round the ring.
Which octatonic mode is the brightest, and which the darkest?
Half–whole is the brightest and Whole–half the darkest. From the brightest: Half–whole, Whole–half.
Where are the octatonic modes used?
jazz, film, bebop, score, classical, horror. Half step, whole step, over and over, so the pattern repeats every three frets. The jazz and metal choice over 7♭9 chords.
How do I practise them?
The same way as the major scale’s modes: over a drone on the root, one shape at a time, leaning on the glowing notes. Then play the home chord and a glowing chord in turn and improvise over them.