The Whole Tone scale is one of the most modern sounding scales out there and if used correctly the benefits are great! It is composed of all whole tones (hence the name) and it's certainly one of my favorite scales to use. It is also used a lot in the worlds of jazz, fusion, instrumental rock, shred, film scoring and so on.
Technically, since this scale is completely symmetrical, any one note of the scale could act as the root note. I've provided examples of how the root could be visualized within the scale in the first 4 patterns pictured below. The other 2 patterns below are exactly the same patterns as the ones above but they do not specify a root not because again, any one note of this scale can act as the root note.
There are many ways that this scale is applied, I've chosen 3; 1. by playing at the root of a Dom7(#5) o altered chord, 2. by playing it starting a 1/2 step above (or below) a Min(maj7) chord (I found out about this when doing research for a new book that should be coming out in 2016)and 3. as a tension building device or concept over just about any situation as long as it is resolved to a chord tone or chord scale.
At the beginning of the video I am applying the scale directly to a Dom7(#5). The chord progression is a normal Blues progression but all the Dom7 chords have been swapped out for Dom7(#5)'s.