More on seventh chords, along with the whole tone scale

Just under a year ago, I presented¹ a table with various seventh chords. To recap, a seventh chord has four notes (root, third, fifth, seventh), and so has three intervals, where each interval can be either a minor or a major third. I also wrote about the 7#5 chord, saying that it sounds like an enhanced dominant seventh chord and I also mentioned the 7b5 chord, although I didn't say much about it.

I've just watched a David Bennett Piano video in which these chords appear; not in the context of denoting seventh chords but rather in the context of the whole tone scale. There are only two whole tone scales, so it makes little sense to talk about the 'C whole tone scale' or the 'D whole tone scale' - these 'scales' contain the same notes, but one starts on C and the other starts on D. The other whole tone scale, by the way, contains the six notes that are not in this scale, and would start on C# or D#.

What's the connection between this scale and 7#5 chords? Let's say that we're playing C7#5 - the notes would be C E G# Bb, or enharmonically C E G# A#. The C whole tone scale contains the notes C D E F# G# A# - in other words, four of the six notes in the C whole tone scale are contained with the C7#5 chord, and so using the whole tone scale to solo over this chord would make a great deal of sense. The same is true for the C7b5 chord - F# replaces the G#.

Unfortunately, as I noted in the earlier blog, I've only rarely used the 7#5 chord and I strongly doubt that I've ever used the 7b5 chord. Should I do so in a future song, I will remember to use the whole tone scale to accompany it.

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