Category: Jazz fusion guitar music theory lessons, guitar technique and improvisation.

How to improvise over altered dominant chords. How to employ chromatic jazz and fusion harmony. Apply twentieth century classical composition techniques to modern jazz music and improv. How to exploit modes of the major. minor and diminished scales. Lesson in alternate picking guitar techniques as used by John Mclaughlin and Al di Meola. How to do metal rock and all styles of alternate picking on the guitar. Plectrum pick technique for electric and acoustic guitarists. alternate guitar style of picking lessons.

Master the Whole Tone Scale with Simple Fingering

Posted on April 19, 2026April 19, 2026 by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

If there are two scales that I am always asked about, these are the whole tone scale and the diminished scale.

But, out of the two, it’s the whole tone scale especially!…And it’s due to the general textbook cumbersome and awkward fingering that puts guitarists off.

So, today let’s take a look at how to play the Whole Tone Scale with a simple fingering like that which we would employ for the pentatonic scale.

PART 1:

Standard textbook guitar fingering:

This, 3 note per string example above is a pretty uncomfortable and awkward affair that dosen’t flow and isn’t especially fluent for quick passages or phrases.

So what do we do?

Well, the answer is to approach it like we would the pentatonic scale, so that we can move the SHAPE about and at the same time we can VISUALISE it.

PART 2:

Here, is a preferred fingering that uses mainly 2 fingers: This, like the pentatonic means that we can move about quickly.

Musical staff and guitar tablature showing notes and finger positions of the whole tone scale in pentatonic form with red slur and bend markings

What’s truly great about this fingering is that we can copy and repeat it exactly “Down 1 Tone or Up 1 Tone” each time right along the guitar fingerboard.

BASIC SCALE SHAPE/FINGERING;

Copy Shape Exactly Ascending:

Copy Shape Exactly Descending:

Copy Shape Exactly Ascending:

This means that we can easily exploit the scale, play it fluently and see it visually which in turn gives us complete command of it.

PART 3:

Now, that we can see and hear what we are doing and have a fluent fingering let’s make use of the scale harmonically.

To begin with, let’s use a flattened 5th interval [and Bb7] over a moving bass. [See video at the top of the page].

Now, let’s use this same harmony and create an [arpeggiated] chordal picking vamp:

Sheet music and guitar tablature showing a repeating whole tone scale triplet pattern with flat notes and finger positions on the 5th, 7th, 9th, and 10th frets

Again, it’s easy to see and hear how we can quickly create composition now that we can visualise a simple shape all across the guitar fingerboard.

PART 4:

What, also works really well from this visual whole tone approach is the exploitation of the high low high [or mirroring] effect.

EXAMPLE 1: High to Low

Sheet music with treble clef and tablature showing whole tone scale musical notes and finger positions on a guitar fretboard

Here, we will create a little phrase that’s going back and forth between the low and high registers.

EXAMPLE 2: Back and Forth

PART 5:

We will now apply this simple scale fingering to a classic Messiaen chord

Application and example:

Sheet music and guitar tablature for a Messiaen piece in Gb9b5/E chord showing notes and finger positions

PART 6:

Finally, we can come out of the shape and move up and down the fingerboard connecting the whole tone [1 step] movements.

So, let’s take a chord of C augmented with a 9th:

As we can see, it’s easy to move down the fingerboard shifting through scale and arpeggio along the way. [See, video above]

IN CONCLUSION:

This was just a quick look at how essential it is to have simple fluid guitar fingering and simple 1 step connection for creating whole tone scale lines/phrases.

Having a “Visual” as well as harmonic understanding makes improvisation and composition so much easier with this scale.

And, as I have reiterated throughout this post, having a repeated shape only 1 tone apart makes the scale very user-friendly.

SCALE PDF DOWNLOAD:

Whole Tone Scale 4 Repeats Download

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Hexatonic Scale building from the Harmonic Minor Scale Part 1

Posted on March 2, 2026 by Modern Music Theory and Application

John McLaughlin Hexatonic Harmonic minor Guitar Scales Lesson and Explanation

Hi Guys,

Today, a quick look at creating a 6 note Hexatonic scale from the harmonic minor scale.

This works really well on the guitar as the harmonic minor scale is generally a clumpy and awkward affair in regards to the fingering.

So, if we take a look at the Harmonic minor scale in its classic, stock form, we have:

But, for effective guitar fingering, especially on a clean guitar or acoustic guitar this is not the most fluid way for the fretting hand.

So, what to do?

Well, the key is to break it up in the most Shakti way possible:

Here’s what we will do: We will employ 6 notes only of the scale. These will be: G# A B D E F

Musical notation illustrating a hexatonic scale built from the harmonic minor scale for music theory. — Hexatonic scale diagram with notation showing finger placements for guitar.

This simple 6 note Hexatonic scale gives us an easy 3 notes per string repetitive figure/pattern to alternate pick.

We can now play this across all 6 strings and create a nice line/phrase/scale that is easy to execute, pick and fret.

ASCENDING:

Sheet music displaying musical notes and tablature for a hexatonic guitar scale built from the harmonic minor scale. — Notated example of ascending and descending patterns for the Hexatonic scale on guitar.

Sheet music featuring a sequence of musical notes form the hexatonic harmonic minor scale. — Hexatonic scale notation for guitar, showcasing ascending and descending patterns.

DESCENDING:

Way 1:

Sheet music featuring guitar tablature and standard notation, for the hexatonic guitar scale built from the harmonic minor scale. — Musical notation illustrating the descending pattern for the Hexatonic scale in harmonic minor.

WAY 2:

Sheet music displaying John McLaughlin's hexatonic guitar scale built form the harmonic minor scale — Notation for the Hexatonic scale, illustrating finger placement and notes on guitar.

In Part 2 we will look at composition and improvisational techniques with the Hexatonic.

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

Hexatonic 2 (1)Download

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John McLaughlin’s Emotional/Melodic Guitar Chords:

Posted on November 21, 2025 by Modern Music Theory and Application

Please watch video above for detailed info:

Hi Guys,

Today, a look at John McLaughlin’s emotional and melodic chords for composition and reharmonisation.

PART 1:

The key to both parts of this blog is the employment of the 1st Inversion Major chord and its resonant guitar voicing:

Below, is the key voicing shape: Here, we have F Major as a 1st Inversion [or F/A] voicing:

Diagram of a first inversion chord on a guitar, showing finger positioning on the fretboard with black dots indicating where to press. — Diagram showing the F Major 1st Inversion (F/A) chord voicing.

From this, let’s take the sequence from John’s classic “Electric dreams/Electric Sighs” composition.

John’s melodic harmony:

We will start with a basic E Major chord that will then go to an Eb first inversion chord:

John McLaughlin guitar sheet music displaying E major and Eb first inversion chords with chord annotations. — Chord progression from E Major to Eb first inversion in a musical notation.

From here, we will resolve this by moving to Ab minor:

We will now repeat the pattern, and, create an ascending sequence with F#/A# resolving to B minor:

Musical notation showing the F#/A# chord resolving to B minor, with staff lines and symbols. Electric dreams electric sighs JohnMcLaughlin — Chord progression featuring F#/A# resolving to B minor, illustrating melodic harmony.

There is now an implied cadence with Em7 to A7. But, this doesn’t Modulate to the key of D,

Sheet music showing the chords Em7 and A7, with guitar tab notation beneath.

Instead, we carry on with the sequence. This time we employ Ab/C to Db minor [enharmonically C#m]

Sheet music showing chords Ab/C and C#m, with notes and staff lines for JohnMcLaughlin's song electric dreams electric sighs. — Musical notation illustrating the Ab/C to C# minor chord transition, highlighting melodic harmony.

And finally, we do resolve, but, this is back to our tonic chord/Key of E Major.

Sheet music showing the notes B/D# and E along with rhythmic markings. — Musical notation showing a B/D# chord transitioning to an E chord.

FULL SCORE:

Sheet music displaying a melodic sequence of musical chords including E, Eb/G, Abm, F#/A#, Bm, Em7, A7, Ab/C, C#m, and B/D# with corresponding tablature. — Musical score featuring various chord progressions and their notations for melodic harmony.

With this type of beautiful, creative, melodic harmony, it’s a good idea to apply arpeggios to underline it and give it movement.

Sheet music depicting a series of arpeggiated musical chords including E, Eb/G, Abm, F#/A#, Bm, and Em. — Musical notation showcasing arpeggio chord transitions including E, Eb/G, Abm, F#/A#, Bm, and Em.

Sheet music displaying arpeggiated guitar john mclaughlin chords A7, Ab/C, C#m, B/D#, and E for electric dreams electric sighs. — Musical notation illustrating chord transitions with A7, Ab/C, C#m, B/D#, and E.

PART 2

The minor b6 and First Inversion Chord Relationship:

Most people seem to have a preference for the minor 6th chord, [which in this case has the F# or the Major 6th].

Musical notation showing a chord structure of A minor 6th, highlighting the major 6th note in red.

But, the minor flattened 6th chord [F natural in this case] has an amazing character of its own, [especially when it resolves to the first inversion, as we will see].