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Modern Scale Construction
Name |
Pattern in whole steps |
Scale Steps from C to C’ |
---|---|---|
Chromatic Scale | H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H | C - C♯ - D - D♯ - E - F - F♯ - G - G♯ - A - A♯ - B - C’ |
Major Scale | W-W-H-W-W-W-H | C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C’ |
Minor, Natural | W-H-W-W-H-W-W | C - D - E♭ - F - G - A♭ - B♭ - C’ |
Minor, Melodic ascending descending |
W-H-W-W-W-W-H W-H-W-W-H-W-W |
C - D - E♭ - F - G - A - B - C’ C’ - B♭ - A♭ - G - F - E♭ - D - C |
Minor, Harmonic | W-H-W-W-H-3H-H | C - D - E♭ - F - G - A♭ - B(♮) - C’ |
Whole Tone Scale | W-W-W-W-W-W | C - D - E - F♯ - G♯ - A♯ - C’ |
Gypsy Scale | W-H-3H-H-H-3H-H | C - D - E♭ - F♯ - G - A♭ - B - C’ |
Pentatonic Scale | W-3H-W-W-3H | C - D - F - G - A - C’ |
Octatonic Scale | H-W-H-W-H-W-H-W | C - C♯ - D♯ - E - F♯ - G - A - A♯ - C’ |
Blues Scale | W-H/H-H-H/H-W-H/H-W | C - D/E♭ - E - F/G♭ - G - A/B♭ - B - C’ |
Scale Degrees
Each note of a scale has a special name in relation to the primary tone.
Degree |
Name |
---|---|
1st | Tonic |
2nd | Supertonic |
3rd | Mediant |
4th | Subdominant |
5th | Dominant |
6th | Submediant — Superdominant |
7th | Leading Tone — Subtonic |