Scale Finder
Visualize any major, minor, modal or pentatonic scale on a piano keyboard and a guitar fretboard. The root is highlighted in deeper colour; play the scale ascending with one click.
Scale
C Major
C · D · E · F · G · A · B
Guitar fretboard
E
B
G
D
A
E
0
1
2
3 •
4
5 •
6
7 •
8
9 •
10
11
12 ••
Root
Scale type
What is a scale?
A scale is an ordered set of notes within an octave. Major and minor scales have seven notes each; pentatonics have five; the blues scale has six; the whole-tone scale has six.
Knowing where a scale lives on your instrument is the difference between memorising fingerings and improvising freely.
Frequently asked questions
- What are modes?
- Modes are scales built by starting on a different degree of a parent scale. Dorian starts on the 2nd degree of the major scale, Phrygian on the 3rd, and so on.
- Why does the same scale repeat across the fretboard?
- Because each pitch class appears at multiple positions on the guitar - the same C is on the 1st fret of the B string, the 3rd fret of the A string, and so on.