Scales · October 22, 2026
By Justin Comstock · JazzValve creator, longtime guitarist and adult trumpet learner · Updated October 22, 2026
Whole Tone Scale for Trumpet: Six Notes over C7#5
Learn the six-note whole tone scale on B-flat trumpet, hear its raised-fifth color, and practice two clear resolutions from written C7#5 to Fmaj7.
Free trumpet workbook
Blue Lines
Thirty days of focused B♭ trumpet practice: tone, time, jazz language and improvisation.
Email signup required
Get Blue Lines freeThe whole tone scale has six different notes, each a whole step from the next. On written C, play C–D–E–F-sharp–G-sharp–B-flat–C. For trumpet improvisation, a useful first application is a dominant chord with a raised fifth, such as C7#5.
The scale can feel unfamiliar because there are no half steps to pull you toward a particular note. Start with a slow phrase and a clear chord change, rather than racing through the pattern. This lesson assumes you can already recognize the third and seventh of a dominant chord.
Build the six-note collection
Beginning on C, move up two semitones each time. The seventh note in the written sequence is C again, an octave above the start. There are six distinct pitches, not seven.
The formula used here is 1–2–3–#4–#5–b7. In C, that gives:
| Written note | Relationship to C |
|---|---|
| C | Root |
| D | Second, or ninth |
| E | Major third |
| F-sharp | Raised fourth, or sharp eleventh |
| G-sharp | Raised fifth |
| B-flat | Flat seventh |
G-sharp and B-flat are two semitones apart in sound, despite the skipped letter name. This spelling makes the C7#5 chord tones easy to see. You may encounter other enharmonic spellings of the same pitches. Robert Hutchinson's jazz-scale reference uses this whole-tone formula and notes that synthetic scales can have different valid spellings.
Notice what is absent: G natural, the perfect fifth of C. Do not automatically fill the space between F-sharp and G-sharp with a G. That would change the collection you are practicing.
JazzValve
Practice This In JazzValve
Open in the app →
Put the right chord underneath
C7#5 contains C–E–G-sharp–B-flat. All four notes belong to C whole tone. The chord retains the major third and flat seventh of C7, while G-sharp replaces G.
Hutchinson's chord-scale relationships pairs a dominant-sharp-five chord with whole tone. Treat that pairing as a starting point for listening, not permission to ignore a tune's melody or the accompanist's voicing.
If a backing part strongly emphasizes G natural, your G-sharp will create an extra clash. For this first study, use accompaniment explicitly labeled C7#5 in written trumpet pitch, rather than an unspecified C7 track.
Everything in the exercises and their main chord labels is written for B-flat trumpet. Written C7#5–Fmaj7 sounds as concert B-flat7#5–E-flatmaj7. Use those concert chords with a pianist or concert-pitch backing tool. B-flat trumpet sounds a major second below the written part; see UTEP's instrument-transposition reference.
Exercise 1: Hear every whole step
Use 4/4 at quarter note = 60. C4 means middle C, one ledger line below the treble staff; C5 is in the third space. The whole exercise stays within that octave.
Over a written C7#5 vamp, play:
- Bar 1: C4, D4, E4, F-sharp4, each a quarter note on beats 1–4.
- Bar 2: G-sharp4 quarter note on beat 1; B-flat4 quarter note on beat 2; C5 half note on beats 3–4.
- Bars 3–4: Rest while the vamp continues.
For the descending version, use:
- Bar 1: C5, B-flat4, G-sharp4, F-sharp4, all quarter notes.
- Bar 2: E4 quarter note; D4 quarter note; C4 half note.
Sing a few notes before playing. If the interval from E to F-sharp keeps shrinking to E–F, pause and find the correct pitch on a keyboard or pitch reference. A secure slow whole step is more useful here than a fast scale with a familiar note substituted by habit.
Tongue the notes lightly at first. On another pass, slur pairs without changing the rhythm. Rest before the tone or response becomes strained.
JazzValve
Practice This In JazzValve
Open in the app →
Exercise 2: Let the raised fifth lead somewhere
Now use one bar of written C7#5 followed by one bar of Fmaj7. Play this original two-bar study:
- Bar 1, C7#5: E4–G-sharp4–B-flat4–G-sharp4, four quarter notes.
- Bar 2, Fmaj7: A4 half note on beats 1–2; C5 quarter note on beat 3; quarter rest on beat 4.
Read the note and rhythm transcript below. Staff notation requires JavaScript.
Notes, rhythm and playing instructions
- Bar 1: beat 1, chord C7#5, E4 quarter note, sounds D4; beat 2, G-sharp4 quarter note, sounds F-sharp4; beat 3, B-flat4 quarter note, sounds A-flat4; beat 4, G-sharp4 quarter note, sounds F-sharp4.
- Bar 2: beat 1, chord Fmaj7, A4 half note, sounds G4; beat 3, C5 quarter note, sounds B-flat4; beat 4, quarter rest.
Written for B-flat trumpet at quarter note = 60. Written harmony: C7#5 | Fmaj7. Concert accompaniment: B-flat7#5 | E-flatmaj7. Preserve G-sharp4 and its half-step arrival on A4. This is the primary source ending, not its optional F-sharp-to-F variation.
The final G-sharp rises a half step into A, the third of Fmaj7. That half-step arrival occurs between the two harmonies, even though the whole-tone scale itself contains no half steps.
Practice only G-sharp4 on beat 4 and A4 on the next beat 1. Count the silent beats before them. Then restore the complete phrase without moving the arrival.
For a second ending, replace the last G-sharp4 of bar 1 with F-sharp4. In bar 2, play F4 as the half note and A4 as the quarter note. Now the sharp eleventh falls a half step to the tonic root. Both versions fill exactly two bars, but they aim at different notes of Fmaj7.
Choose the ending you can hear most clearly. Keep it while inventing a new rhythm for the first three notes. You do not need to use all six scale notes in every phrase.
Why there are only two whole-tone collections
Move the C collection up a half step and you get the other set of pitches:
C-sharp–D-sharp–F–G–A–B.
Those are convenient pitch spellings for comparison. Move that collection up another half step and you return to the same pitch classes as the original C collection. Open Music Theory's chapter on collections explains this two-collection symmetry.
That does not mean C7#5 and D7#5 are interchangeable chord names. The bass and chord function still matter, even when a scale can supply pitches for more than one chord.
Try a small demonstration over the unchanged C7#5 vamp:
- First bar: E4–F-sharp4–G-sharp4 as quarter notes, then a quarter rest.
- Second bar: F-sharp4–G-sharp4–B-flat4 as quarter notes, then a quarter rest.
The second idea moves the first up a whole step, yet every note remains in C whole tone. Listen to how its relationship to the C bass changes. Avoid running the pattern endlessly; answer it with one of the Fmaj7 arrivals from Exercise 2.
Keep whole tone separate from altered and diminished
Whole tone is a six-note, all-whole-step collection. The altered scale lesson introduces a seven-note collection with altered ninths, while the diminished-scale lesson uses eight notes with alternating half and whole steps. They are different sounds, not increasingly difficult versions of one scale.
If this is your first dominant-chord study, begin with the C Mixolydian exercises. Return to whole tone when you can hear the change from the plain fifth G to the raised fifth G-sharp.
Finish by recording one scale pass and one two-bar phrase. Listen for even whole steps, a steady count through the rests, and an intentional arrival on Fmaj7. For shorter foundational practice ideas, Blue Lines is a free jazz trumpet workbook available with email signup.
JazzValve
Practice This In JazzValve
Open in the app →
Free trumpet workbook
Blue Lines
Thirty days of focused B♭ trumpet practice: tone, time, jazz language and improvisation.
Email signup required
Get Blue Lines freeSources
- Robert Hutchinson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom, Scales: https://musictheory.pugetsound.edu/mt21c/JazzScales.html
- Robert Hutchinson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom, How to Determine Chord-Scale Relationships: https://musictheory.pugetsound.edu/mt21c/HowToDetermineChord-ScaleRelationships.html
- Charles Leinberger, UTEP, Instrument Transpositions for Musical Analysis: https://utminers.utep.edu/charlesl/transpose.html
- Mark Gotham, Megan Lavengood, Brian Moseley and Kris Shaffer, Open Music Theory, Collections: https://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory/chapter/collections/