Diminished and Dominant Runs

[BackSeatSuicide]

I have a book with a bunch of Diminished and Dominant runs. are these good things to learn ? What purpose do they serve ? Would they help with developing technique and speed ?

[AndyPollow]

the whole tone is my favorite. im trying to find ways to use it like debussy did in piano sonatas. some of them are spooky in a cool musical way. whole tone is a b c# d# f g ............

[BackSeatSuicide]

thats awesome, but it didn't answer my question, lol.

[graypianoflying]

What book is it?

[magpie74]

The whole tone scale is an easy, symmetrical pattern that lends a couple of altered tones (b5/#5) to the normal dominant fare.

The half-whole tone diminished scale goes a step further by adding the b9/#9 while dropping the #5, and is also symmetrical.

The diminished seventh arpeggio sounds great over a diminished chord, naturally, but also works nicely when placed a half step above the root of a seventh chord. For example, try a Bb diminished arpeggio over an A7 chord. The overall effect is b9 3 5 b7.

All of this is common knowledge to jazz players, but it works surprisingly well in rock and country, as well. These scales are great ways to perk-up an otherwise drab melody.