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Notes, Pitch & MelodyA–Z index
Notes, Pitch & Melody

Scale

The short version

A chosen set of notes that sound good together, in order.

A little more

Out of the 12 available pitches, a scale picks a handful — usually seven or five — and puts them in a ladder from low to high. Songs mostly stay inside their scale, which is why they sound coherent.

Try it
Scales, up and down

Sing along with the ascending version if you can.

C majorBright and settled.
A minorSame notes as C major, different home.
C major pentatonicFive notes, hard to go wrong.
A minor pentatonicThe blues and rock solo scale.
ChromaticEvery note — the full box.
Why you'd carePick a scale and you've narrowed thousands of choices down to a few that will basically always work.
Go deeper

The major scale pattern is whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. Start that same pattern on a different note of the scale and you get a mode — Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian.

Where you'll see this in BDT
Ear Room — Hear the Music →
Learn next
Major ScaleThe bright, do-re-mi ladder.Minor ScaleThe darker, more serious ladder.Pentatonic ScaleA five-note scale where it's very hard to play a wrong note.Chromatic ScaleEvery single note, in order, with no gaps.KeyThe note that feels like home, plus the family of notes around it.

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