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C Major
C · D · E · F · G · A · B · 7 notes
CDEFGAB
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Scale type
Scale Library
Explore every scale in every key - major, minor, modes, pentatonic, blues, exotic and more - with notes, formulas, diatonic chords and audio.
Popular scales
Browse scales by category
Click any scale to open its full page with notes, intervals, diatonic chords, piano and guitar diagrams, staff notation and audio playback.
Diatonic scales
Major
Bright, stable and resolved. The starting point of Western tonal music.Natural Minor
Reflective and emotional. The default minor sound in pop, rock and folk.Minor variants
Harmonic Minor
Natural minor with a raised seventh, creating a dramatic, eastern feel.Melodic Minor
Smooth ascending minor with raised sixth and seventh - central to jazz.Altered
Seventh mode of melodic minor — every available alteration on a dominant: ♭9, ♯9, ♯11, ♭13.Bebop Dominant
Mixolydian with an added passing major seventh — eight-note bebop scale that lands chord tones on every downbeat.Modes
Dorian
Minor scale with a bright raised sixth - sophisticated and groove-friendly.Phrygian
Dark minor mode with a flat second - Spanish, flamenco and metal flavour.Lydian
Brighter than major thanks to its raised fourth - dreamy and cinematic.Mixolydian
Major scale with a flat seventh - the dominant sound of blues and rock.Aeolian
Identical to natural minor - the classic minor mode of the Western system.Locrian
The unstable seventh mode - diminished tonic and a flat fifth, rarely used as tonal centre.Lydian Augmented
Third mode of melodic minor — Lydian with a raised fifth, dreamy and otherworldly.Lydian Dominant
Fourth mode of melodic minor (Bartók / acoustic) — major with #4 and ♭7, jazzy and Eastern at once.Hindu
Mixolydian with a flat sixth — major brightness with a darker upper tetrachord.Pentatonic scales
Major Pentatonic
Five-note bright scale that avoids dissonance - the workhorse of folk, country and pop solos.Minor Pentatonic
The most common scale for guitar solos in rock, blues and pop.Egyptian
Suspended pentatonic — major pentatonic without the third or seventh. Floating, modal and ambient.Kumoi
Japanese pentatonic (1, 2, ♭3, 5, 6) — minor third softened by a major second and major sixth.In-sen
Japanese pentatonic (1, ♭2, 4, 5, ♭7) — austere and unsettled, used in shamisen music.Blues scales
Blues
Minor pentatonic with an added flat fifth (the blue note) - the heart of blues phrasing.Symmetric scales
Whole Tone
All whole steps - symmetric, dreamlike and famously used by Debussy and on dominant chords.Half-Whole Diminished
Octatonic scale alternating half then whole steps — the standard choice over a dominant 7♭9 chord.Chromatic
All twelve semitones - the source set for every other scale and a tool for tension and color.Exotic & world scales
Harmonic Major
Major scale with a flat sixth - bright tonic with a darker undertone, popular in modern jazz.Phrygian Dominant
Phrygian with a major third - flamenco, klezmer and middle-eastern signature sound.Hungarian Minor
Harmonic minor with a raised fourth - eastern European folk and metal favourite.Gypsy Major
Exotic major scale with augmented seconds - used in Romani and Balkan music.Neapolitan Major
Major scale with a flat second - operatic, dramatic and angular.Hirajōshi
Japanese pentatonic scale with a contemplative, koto-like atmosphere.Iwato
Japanese pentatonic scale built on flat seconds and fifths - sparse and meditative.Enigmatic
Verdi's invented scale — neither major nor minor, with raised fourth and fifth and chromatic ascent.Persian
Two augmented seconds and a flat second — distinctly Middle-Eastern, dramatic and ornamented.Arabian
Major lower tetrachord followed by a half-step descent through the upper tetrachord — open and Maqam-flavoured.Hear how each scale sounds
Pair scales with our interactive piano and the Circle of Fifths to truly understand how they work.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I pick the right scale for a song or solo?
- Start from the song's key. Major key → use the major scale and its modes (Ionian, Dorian, Mixolydian work over most chords). Minor key → natural minor for sad/calm, harmonic minor for tension, melodic minor jazz over dominant chords. Pentatonic and blues scales work over almost any blues, rock or pop progression.
- What's the difference between modes and scales?
- Modes are scales built starting from each degree of the parent major scale. C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian etc. all use the same notes, but each starts on a different one and produces a different feeling — Dorian sounds minor with a major sixth (jazzy), Mixolydian sounds major with a flat seventh (rock/blues).
- Where do I practice ear-training for scales?
- The Scale & Mode ID trainer plays scales and asks you to identify them by ear. Pair that with this library — read about a mode, click play to hear it ascending and descending, then test yourself in the trainer.