Hexatonic (Scales)

Hexatonic scales are made of six notes, even if you can get them from any pentatonic scale (by adding one note) or diatonic scale (by removing one note), the most popular are the blues scales (major, minor), the augmented scale, the whole-tone scale, the tritone scale and the Prometheus scale. This guitar lesson with formula charts and diagrams covers them in details and will you help to better figure them out.

The Blues Scales

This group of hexatonic scales includes the Blues Scales, that are actually the major and minor pentatonic scales (five notes) with an added chromatic passing tone. The most commonly used are :

1. The minor blues scale with a b5.
2. The minor blues scale with a 3.
3. The minor blues scale with a 7. These three scale are actually the minor pentatonic scale with an additional note which can be the flat fifth (b5), major third (3) or major seventh (7).
4. The major blues scale, that is the major pentatonic scale with a passing tone (b3) between the second and the third.
Here are some basic diagrams and their related tabs to play these four blues scales on the guitar.

The Augmented Scale

The Augmented Scale is a hexatonic and symmetrical scale also sometimes referred to as “minor third-half step scale”, because it is built with three patterns each made of a minor third (3 semitones) and a minor second (1 semitone). As shown in the chart and shapes below, the formula to remember is tonic (1), augmented second (#2), major third (3), fifth (5), augmented fifth (#5) and major seventh (7).

The Whole Tone Scale

As its name implies, the Whole Tone Scale is built with six notes separated from each other by a whole tone step (two semitones). Making this hexatonic scale a symmetrical scale built this way : tonic (1), second (2), third (3), augmented fourth (#4), augmented fifth (#5) and minor seventh (b7). It is used over dominant chord to bring tension and emphasize altered tones as the #11 (b5) and #5 (b13).

The Tritone Scale

The Tritone Scale is a synthetic, symmetric, hexatonic scales made of two superimposed major triads a tritone away, giving the following formula : Tonic (1), minor second (b2) , major third (3), augmented fourth (#4), perfect fifth (5), minor seventh (b7).

The Prometheus Scale

The last of the series is the Prometheus Scale, made of six pitches : Tonic (1), major second (2), major third (3), augmented fourth (#4 or b5), major sixth (6) and minor seventh (b7). It can be seen as the Lydian Dominant scale without the fifth.