scales and chords Avoid Melodic Monotony and Predictability Using the Half-Whole Diminished Scale Here’s how to create more effective lines by relating the “symmetrical diminished” scale’s recurring fretboard patterns to chords Get The Pick NewsletterAll the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors MOST READ1Expand your arsenal, and channel Lindsey Buckingham and Mark Knopfler, with this lesson in fingerstyle2Vince Gill on his role in the Eagles, and the wonders of playing with Joe Walsh 3Meet Max Light, the jazz guitarist who loves Coltrane, Miles, and Meshuggah in equal measure4Slowly emerging from a hiatus, Sarah Longfield's ever-impressive playing is “more chill now”5Ska, reggae guitar king Ernest Ranglin on the origins of the ‘skank’ style, and the early Jamaican scene