Scales

A scale is an ordered set of notes spanning an octave, built from a fixed pattern of steps. Change the pattern and you change the sound; keep the pattern and move the starting note and you get the same sound in a different key.

The pattern is the scale

The major scale is:

tone – tone – semitone – tone – tone – tone – semitone

Start on C and that pattern lands exactly on the white keys. Start anywhere else and you need sharps or flats to preserve it — which is the entire reason key signatures exist.

The minor scales use a different pattern, and there are three common versions of it, each solving a different musical problem.

Each note of a scale has a number and a name describing its role — see scale degrees.

What scales are actually for

Not finger exercises. A scale defines the note pool a passage draws from, which in turn defines:

• which chords sound native to the key
• which note feels like home
• why a melody sounds bright, sad or unsettled

Beyond major and minor

The modes are seven scales made from the same seven notes, each treating a different one as home. Pentatonic scales remove the two notes that create semitone clashes, which is why they are so forgiving. The chromatic scale uses all twelve notes and so has no tonic at all.

Every major and minor scale is written out with its degrees in the scale reference.

Related

Scales sit between intervals below them and keys above. If a scale feels arbitrary, the missing piece is usually intervals.