Chord Colors

C♯ Tritone scale

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About the C sharp Tritone scale

C sharp Tritone is used for jazz and film music that wants a symmetrical, unstable color. Think of it as a symmetrical six-note scale built on the tritone. It is C Blues Diminished with the third lowered.

Its notes are C, D, E, G, G, and B. The formula is H 1½ W H 1½ W.

Learn more about the C♯ Tritone scale

An unfretted guitar already sounds D, G, and B from the mode. On guitar, the deepest C within reach is the 4th fret of the A string. A capo at the first fret lets a guitarist play C Tritone with C-shape fingerings.

Positions

Playable shapes for this scale up the neck. Tap any note to hear it.

6-position system

6 four-fret boxes, one per scale degree, each a single hand position with almost no shifting. The jazz and classical way, from William Leavitt's Berklee method. This scale is symmetric, so the same box shape repeats up the neck.

Position 1fr 1
Position 2fr 3
Position 3fr 4
Position 4fr 7
Position 5fr 9
Position 6fr 10

Notes and intervals

1C#C♯Root
2DDMinor 2nd
3E#E♯Major 3rd
4GGAugmented 4th
5G#G♯Perfect 5th
6BBMinor 7th
StepsH 1½ W H 1½ W
Semitones1-3-2-1-3-2
Degrees1 2 3 4 5 7

Shapes

Chromatic

CC♯D♭DD♯E♭EFF♯G♭GG♯A♭AA♯B♭B

Circle of Fifths

CGDAEBF♯G♭C♯D♭G♯A♭D♯E♭A♯B♭F

Related scales

Tritone in other keys

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Db Tritone scale on guitar shown as colored note dots
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