Chord Colors

D Tritone scale

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About the D Tritone scale

D 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 D Blues Diminished with the third lowered.

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

Learn more about the D Tritone scale

A and D are open guitar strings that sit inside the mode, ready to drone under a riff. A guitarist finds the lowest D at the 5th fret of the A string.

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 2
Position 2fr 4
Position 3fr 5
Position 4fr 8
Position 5fr 10
Position 6fr 11

Notes and intervals

1DDRoot
2EbE♭Minor 2nd
3F#F♯Major 3rd
4G#G♯Augmented 4th
5AAPerfect 5th
6CCMinor 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

Embed this scale

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D Tritone scale on guitar shown as colored note dots
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