Scales & Modes
A scale is any group of musical notes ordered by pitch, either ascending or descending. Scales are defined by both the number of notes they have, and by the intervals between these notes. An interval is the distance between two notes, and they can be classified as Whole-tones, or Half-tones (the equivalent of one or two guitar frets respectively).
Based on these interval patterns, scales can be classified into categories such as diatonic (of seven notes), chromatic (made up entirely of semitones), etc. Specific scales will be named taking into account their interval patterns, as well as their first degree (roughly the first note of the scale), also called tonic. For example, E major features the interval pattern of a major scale (WWHWWWH) starting from the note E.
Each scale is a selection of sounds determined through an interval pattern. Because of this selection, scales usually convey a very particular and identifiable 'sound'. Usually, a musical work or song will be constructed using a single scale (or alternating between scales that are somehow related). These can be conveniently noted by means of a key signature at the beginning of the score. Learn more about scales using our scale finder tool.
Major scale
One of the most efficient ways to memorize scales and play them on the guitar is using box patterns. These are ways of 'mapping' the scale across the guitar fretboard, creating fixed shapes that can be transposed to play the scale in a different key. They are particularly helpful for improvisation, and once they are memorized, they serve as an excellent aid to understand the visual and auditory relationships between intervals. Select a root note to see a list of box patterns for the major scale:
The major scale is one of the most used musical scales, being of central importance in the development of European music. It is made up of seven notes, with the eight duplicating the first at the double of frequency. The intervallic structure of the major scale is given as w, w, h, w, w, w, h, (h meaning half a tone and w meaning a whole tone). Thus, it follows that the major scale of C is made up of all natural notes, making it the easiest scale to write.
The relative minor of a major scale starts down a minor third, and uses the same key signature. For example, G major and E minor use the same key signature. The major scale corresponds to the Ionan mode (as originally classified by Heinrich Glarean in the sixteenth century). In musical languages that make use of an extensive number of scales, the term 'major scale' is used broadly when referring to any scale whose first, third, and fifth degree form a major triad.
Minor Scale
One of the most efficient ways to memorize scales and play them on the guitar is using box patterns. These are ways of 'mapping' the scale across the guitar fretboard, creating fixed shapes that can be transposed to play the scale in a different key. They are particularly helpful for improvisation, and once they are memorized, they serve as an excellent aid to understand the visual and auditory relationships between intervals. Select a root note to see a list of box patterns for the minor scale:
The minor scale is one the most used scales in western music. The term minor scale is quite broad, as it may encompass different variations of what we know as the natural minor scale, or Aeolian scale (as it corresponds to the Aeolian mode according to the modern system of modes). This scale features the intervallic pattern: WHWWHWW (with W meaning whole tone and H meaning half-tone), which corresponds to all the white keys of the piano when played from any A to its octave. If a minor scale and a major scale share a key signature, they are relative keys. Basically, a minor scale has the same notes as its relative major, just starting a sixth above (or a third below).
The harmonic and melodic versions of the minor scale arose as variations on the natural scale, the first to create a leading note for harmonic purposes, and the second to compensate the dissonant interval this new leading tone creating in the melodic runs of the scale.
In a broader sense, the name minor is used for any scale that features a minor third, whether it be the Dorian or Phrygian mode.
Harmonic Minor Scale
One of the most efficient ways to memorize scales and play them on the guitar is using box patterns. These are ways of 'mapping' the scale across the guitar fretboard, creating fixed shapes that can be transposed to play the scale in a different key. Once the patterns for the natural minor scale have been memorized, raising the seventh degree by one semitone (that is, playing the note that comes before the tonic one fret higher) will give the harmonic minor scale as a result. This will create some fingering differences: below you'll find the graphic representation of all the box patterns for the harmonic minor scale in every key. Select a root note to see a list of box patterns for the harmonic minor scale:
The harmonic minor scale is one of the possible variations of the natural minor scale, in which the seventh degree is raised by one semitone. This makes the seventh degree into a leading tone for the tonic, and also transforms the otherwise minor V chord of the minor scale into a major chord. The scale is so named because this alteration is a common foundation for harmonies used in a minor key: besides making the V chord into a major chord, it may be used to transform the VII into a diminished chord and the IIi into an augmented chord.
The raising of the seventh degree creates a one-and-a-half-tone interval from the sixth to the seventh degree of the scale, thus giving the scale runs a sonority that was deemed harsh in the common practice period. Maybe for this reason the scale hasn't seen much melodic uses when it comes to classical academic music. In modern music, the augmented interval has been sometimes exploited in order to create an eastern, exotic feeling, due to the scale's rough similarity with the Hijaz jins and Nahawand-Hijaz arabic scales. The so called Hungarian scale is also similar, but with an raised fourth degree (making for an even tenser sound, with the addition of other augment interval).
Melodic Minor Scale
One of the most efficient ways to memorize scales and play them on the guitar is using box patterns. These are ways of 'mapping' the scale across the guitar fretboard, creating fixed shapes that can be transposed to play the scale in a different key. Once the patterns for the natural minor scale have been memorized, raising the sixth and seventh degrees by one semitone (that is, playing them one fret higher) will give the melodic minor scale as a result.
This will create some fingering differences: below you'll find the graphic representation of all the box patterns for the harmonic minor scale in every key. Select a root note to see a list of box patterns for the harmonic minor scale:
The melodic minor scale is a variation of the natural minor scale in which the sixth and seventh degrees are raised. The harmonic minor makes use of the raised seventh degree in order to create a leading tone to the tonic, but as a consequence, an augmented second interval appears between the sixth and seventh degrees. Common practice composers found this to be a generally harsh sounding leap when it came to melodies, and some considered it unnatural for vocal music. This eventually led to the rising of the sixth degree in order to reduce the interval. Thus, the melodic minor scale's status as a real scale is debatable, as some consider it like a mere variation employed for melody constructing purposes.
The rising of the sixth degree makes the second tetrachord of the scale identical to that of a major scale. It also opens the door to the use of the major IV chord, as well as the half-diminished raised VI chord.
Pentatonic Major Scale
-One of the most efficient ways to memorize scales and play them on the guitar is using box patterns. These are ways of 'mapping' the scale across the guitar fretboard, creating fixed shapes that can be transposed to play the scale in a different key. They are particularly helpful for improvisation, and once they are memorized, they serve as an excellent aid to understand the visual and auditory relationships between intervals. Select a root note to see a list of box patterns for the pentatonic scale:
The pentatonic scale, as it name implies, it's made up of five notes instead of the regular seven (such as the minor/major scale and the greek modes). For study purposes only, the major pentatonic scale may be thought of as an incomplete major scale, though it is crucial to understand that the pentatonic has a unique character and it is a complete scale per se. Taking any major scale and removing the fourth and seventh degrees will result in what is traditionally known as a major pentatonic scale. Thus, the C pentatonic major scale is made up of the notes C, D, E, G, and A.
The term 'pentatonic' may be understood in a broader sense: any scale that's made up of five notes is technically a pentatonic scale. They occur in traditional and folk music from West Africa, India, Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, the nordic countries, etc. Scales strikingly similar to the western major and minor pentatonic are found throughout most cultures, and this pervasiveness has been the subject of numerous studies. This peculiarity makes the pentatonic scale an useful resource for creating an eastern sound when writing melodies or improvising. The pentatonic scale has seen numerous uses in musical education, playing an important role in the first stages of the Orff, Kodaly, and Waldorf methodologies. The fact that it is almost impossible to incur in harmonic 'mistakes' when improvising with it, together with its intuitiveness and its flexibility in harmonization make the pentatonic scale a very useful teaching tool.
Pentatonic Minor Scale
One of the most efficient ways to memorize scales and play them on the guitar is using box patterns. These are ways of 'mapping' the scale across the guitar fretboard, creating fixed shapes that can be transposed to play the scale in a different key. They are particularly helpful for improvisation, and once they are memorized, they serve as an excellent aid to understand the visual and auditory relationships between intervals. Select a root note to see a list of box patterns for the pentatonic scale:
The pentatonic scale, as it name implies, it's made up of five notes instead of the regular seven (such as the minor/major scale and the greek modes). For study purposes only, the major pentatonic scale may be thought of as an incomplete major scale, though it is crucial to understand that the pentatonic has a unique character and it is a complete scale per se. Taking any major scale and removing the fourth and seventh degrees will result in what is traditionally known as a major pentatonic scale. Thus, the C pentatonic major scale is made up of the notes C, D, E, G, and A.
The term 'pentatonic' may be understood in a broader sense: any scale that's made up of five notes is technically a pentatonic scale. They occur in traditional and folk music from West Africa, India, Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, the nordic countries, etc. Scales strikingly similar to the western major and minor pentatonic are found throughout most cultures, and this pervasiveness has been the subject of numerous studies. This peculiarity makes the pentatonic scale an useful resource for creating an eastern sound when writing melodies or improvising. The pentatonic scale has seen numerous uses in musical education, playing an important role in the first stages of the Orff, Kodaly, and Waldorf methodologies. The fact that it is almost impossible to incur in harmonic 'mistakes' when improvising with it, together with its intuitiveness and its flexibility in harmonization make the pentatonic scale a very useful teaching tool.
Dorian Mode
One of the most efficient ways to memorize scales and play them on the guitar is using box patterns. These are ways of 'mapping' the scale across the guitar fretboard, creating fixed shapes that can be transposed to play the scale in a different key. They are particularly helpful for improvisation, and once they are memorized, they serve as an excellent aid to understand the visual and auditory relationships between intervals. Select a root note to see a list of box patterns for the major scale:
The Dorian or Doric mode, in modern music theory, is a modal diatonic scale. It corresponds to the white keys of the piano from D to D or any transposition of this WHWWWHW intervallic pattern (with H meaning haf-tone and W meaning whole tone). Though historically different, it can be seen as a minor scale with its sixth grade ascended, and it is often considered as an offshot of the minor scale. It is usually used as a compositional device for deviating from the traditional minor sound, as the ascended sixth creates a IVM chord, and a somewhat medieval-like sound in melodies.
The dorian mode is named after the dorian greeks (an ethnic group of the ancient greek people, together with the aeolians, achaeans and ionians). Somewhat confusingly, the term dorian was applied to a number of different scales historically (since the modern naming system we use for modes is actually the result of a series of interpretations and sometimes wrong translations carried out by music theorists of the middle ages). For example, it is believed that one of the uses of the term dorian in greek music referred to what we today know as phrygian scale.
There are a number of famous compositions in dorian mode: Drunken sailir, Maiden Voyage (by Herbie Hancock), Milestones (by Miles Davies), etc.