Diminished Scale Licks for Electric Guitar

by Jason Earls, author of How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell
http://becomeguitaristfromhell.blogspot.com/

The diminished scale is an incredible sounding musical pattern. In my opinion it can sound either mystical, evil, or enchanting, depending upon the context in which it is played. Due to its unusual intervals and constantly shifting fingering positions when played on the guitar, it can also function as a challenging finger exercise. Here is the diminished dominant scale in the key of A:

---------------------------------5-6-8-9--
---------------------------5-7-8----------
---------------------5-6-8----------------
---------------5-7-8----------------------
---------6-7-9----------------------------
-5-6-8-9----------------------------------

It’s easy to see the scale follows a ‘half step/full step’ progression as it ascends in pitch. Arab musicians are thought to have been the first people to “invent” the diminished scale, as written records indicate their use of it in the early 7th century. The Arabs used the phrase “Zer ef Kend,” to name the scale, which meant “string of pearls,” since the alternating wide and short intervals reminded them of larger and smaller pearls strung together.

The composer and piano virtuoso Franz List is thought to have been the first Western musician ever to use the diminished scale in his compositions. His piece, “Feux Follets” features it in a regularly recurring melody throughout the piece.

Even though the scale above is the full version of the diminished dominant, I usually prefer playing only partial intervals of the scale, like so:
~
----------------------8-11-14--
-------------------10----------
--------------8-11-------------
---------7-10------------------
-----6-9-----------------------
-5-8---------------------------

Of course we can also generate finger-tapping licks using the diminished scale. For the following lick, we will use the full diminished dominant scale, not just partials.

T T T T
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
------------------10-6-7-9-10-6-7-9--
-9-5-6-8-9-5-6-8---------------------

T T T T
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
----------------------12-8-9-11-12-8-9-11--
-11-7-8-10-11-7-8-10-----------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------

T T T T
--------------------------15-11-12-14-15-11-12-14-15-
-14-10-11-13-14-10-11-13-----------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------

All notes above are either hammered-on, finger-tapped, or pulled-off to. You can repeat the phrases on each string for a longer duration of time before changing to the next string, if desired. The tapping above can be a little tricky due to the fact that when hammering-on with the pinky finger, you may have a tendency to hit the index finger you are using to tap with, since it will be in close proximity to your pinky. To solve this problem, you may need to tap a little closer to the actual fret while keeping your pinky finger pulled back a tad more than normal, so that your fingers will be sufficiently separated – if they hit against each other, it will throw off the flow and timing of the lick or simply slow you down.

Descending quadruplets also sound incredible when played in the diminished scale, as our last scary lick adequately demonstrates:

-14-11-8----11-8--------8---------------------
---------10------10-------10------10----------
--------------------11-------11-8----11-8-----
------------------------------------------10--
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------
--------------------------------------
-11-8------8--------------------------
------10-7---10-7----10-7-----7-------
------------------9-------9-6---9-6---
------------------------------------8-
~
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
-9-6----------
-----8-5-6----

As you can see from the examples above, the diminished scale can be a potent weapon against the drudgery of similar sounding licks. Use it like a hand grenade to explode the musically sensitive neurons in the brains of the members of your audience.

-end-

http://becomeguitaristfromhell.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/zevi35711

Bio: Jason Earls is the author of How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell, Cocoon of Terror, Red Zen, Heartless Bast*rd In Ecstasy, If(Sid_Vicious == TRUE && Alan_Turing == TRUE) {ERROR_Cyberpunk(); } and 0.136101521283655... all available at Amazon.com and other online book stores. His fiction and mathematical work have been published in Red Scream, Yankee Pot Roast, M-Brane SF, Scientia Magna, three of Clifford Pickover’s books, Neometropolis, Mathworld, AlienSkin, Recreational and Educational Computing, Escaping Elsewhere, Thirteen, Dogmatika, Prime Curios, Thirteen, the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, OG’s Speculative Fiction, Nocturnal Ooze, Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens, and other publications. He currently resides in Oklahoma with his wife, Christine.