Lesson 8: Scales
This lesson explains what a
scale is. You'll need to understand
scales to understand
chords and
melodies.
Before taking this lesson, you should know:
A
scale is a particular sequence of
pitch names, arranged in
order from low to high. Here are some examples of scales and the pitches in
them:
| Scale Name |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
| B major scale: |
B | C♯ | D♯ |
E | F♯ | G♯ | A♯ |
| B natural minor scale: |
B | C♯ | D |
E | F♯ | G | A |
| D♭ major scale: |
D♭ | E♭ | F |
G♭ | A♭ | B♭ | C |
Here are some important basic facts about the most common scales (some of
these things are not true of
all scales):
-
These common scales each contain 7 different pitches, numbered
1-2-3-4-5-6-7.
-
A scale's numbered pitches are called the degrees of the scale. For
example, from the table above we can say that "the 3rd degree of the B major
scale is D♯".
-
A scale's starting pitch is called the tonic.
-
A scale's name is its tonic (its starting pitch, like B or
D♭) plus its scale type (like "major scale" or "natural
minor scale").
-
These common scales use each letter-name (A, B, C, D, E, F, G)
exactly once. What makes each scale different from the others
(besides which pitch it starts on) is the flat (♭) or sharp
(♯) (or neither) on each pitch.
-
For these common scales, the distance between each degree of the
scale is (usually) either a whole-step or half-step.
-
The thing that makes one scale type different from another is its
order of half-steps and whole-steps. For example, "for the major
scale scale type, is the distance from degree 3 to degree 4 a half-step
or whole-step?".
Next:
Start learning about the
major scale (the most "fundamental" scale
type) in
Lesson 9: Major Scale 1-2-3.
