Composers use scales like painters creating a palette.

Some of the commonly heard scales are:

• Diatonic

• Chromatic

• Whole Tone

• Pentatonic

Anyone can invent a scale! There's only customs that people follow. You can tune a scale anyway you want.

Everyone knows the DIATONIC Scale, they learn it and hear it from birth. But people don't easily know how to talk about the technical make-up of the scale and how it is built.

In theory we talk about the steps between notes in scales. In our culture the steps are either HALF STEPS, or WHOLE STEPS. Each note on a keyboard is separated by a HALF STEP. Likewise, each Fret on a guitar is also a HALF STEP.

The CHROMATIC Scale

The picture above illustrates what a 12 note CHROMATIC scale looks like on a keyboard. The CHROMATIC scale is made up of 12 consecutive HALF Steps. The shortest distance between any two notes is a HALF step.

Remember, it could start on any note.

The DIATONIC SCALE

Do, re, mi...

The 7 note DIATONIC Scale (DO, RE, MI...) starting on C.

The closest a note can be to another note is called a HALF STEP. 2 HALF STEPS equal a WHOLE STEP.

Examining the Diatonic Scale beginning on C we recognize:

C-D a Whole Step

D-E a Whole Step

E-F a Half Step

F-G a Whole Step

G-A a Whole Step

A-B a Whole Step

B-C a Half Step

We use abbreviations to indicate that: W, for Whole Step, and H for Half Step.

W W H W W W H

This scale could start on any note, but it must follow the step sequence.

The sequence for any DIATONIC scale is always:

Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step

D, Re, Mi sounds the same relatively. It can begin on any pitch, but it will have the same step sequence.

Sing Happy Birthday starting on any note, then do it again on any other note. The DIATONIC Scale is still made up of the same STEP relationships, you've only raised, or lowered, the first note, i.e. the Key of the song. The name of the KEY is that first pitch of the Do, Re, Mi 7 note Diatonic Scale.

More Scales

The WHOLE TONE SCALE

The WHOLE TONE SCALE is simply a scale of successive WHOLE STEPS.

The PENTATONIC SCALE

The PENTATONIC SCALE is any group of five notes. Making up a melody using only the black keys on a keyboard would be creating a PENTATONIC SCALE.

The DIATONIC MINOR SCALE

These scales come in three ways: Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor and the Melodic Minor.

Natural Minor Scale is created if you begin a seven note scale on the 6th note of a Diatonic Scale, and use the same notes as the Major Scale. It’s referred to as the Relative Minor. Every Major Scale has a Relative Minor. W, H, W, W, H, W, W

Harmonic Minor Scale: W, H, W, W, H, WH, H (A Whole+Half step is WH)

Melodic Minor Scales: On the way up it’s called an Ascending Melodic Minor scale- W H W W W W W . On the way down it’s called a Descending Melodic Minor Scale and is the same as the Natural Minor