What is a Scale?

Some people dispense with learning the scales, often because they already know so much music theory they don’t have to follow a set pattern. They work around the chords they are using. For someone just beginning to learn music theory, however (like I am), I needed a fixed formula, not only for playing purposes, but so that I could understand the way that the notes work on the neck of my guitar. Being familiar with the different types of scales and understanding where and how to play them also helped me to understand how music theory worked.

Scales are formed from one of the 12 notes, C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# or B and they come in several different forms. There are major scales, melodic minor scales, blues scales, harmonic scales and pentatonic scales. There are seven types of major scales: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. The two ‘major’ major scales are the Ionian and Aeolian scales. I still don’t know enough about the other scales to write about them yet. I am just going to focus on the few that I know in this post. So I will discuss the Aeolian and Ionian scales, better known as the natural minor and major scales. I will also discuss the harmonic minor scale.

The formula for the major scale is W W h W W W h, which stands for whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step. This means that if you’re trying to find what notes are in the C major scale, then you will count up WWhWWWh up from the C note, which is your root note. (also called a tonic) So the C major scale will have the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C in it.

From C to D is a whole step, D to E is a whole step, E to F is a half step because there are no sharps in between, F to G is a whole step, G to A is a whole step, A to B is a whole step and B to C is a half step. Again, that is because there are no sharps in between.  

The formula for finding the Natural Minor is W h WW h WW. See if you can find what the notes are in the B natural minor scale. Post your answer in the comment section to see if you are right! No Google-ing. If you forget the order of the notes, it is , C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B and back to C.

The harmonic minor is simply the natural minor with the seventh note raised half a step. This gives it a slightly different sound which may fit your solo or riff better than if it didn’t have it. If the natural minor scale for the root note D is D, E, F, G, A, A#, C and D, then the harmonica minor is D, E, F, G, A, A#, C and D#, because you raise that last note by a half step.

The melodic minor is simply the natural minor with the seventh and sixth notes raised half a step. So the melodic d minor scale would be D, E, F, G, A, A#, C# and D#, because we raised the C and D notes to C# and D#. Again, these are very slight changes to the general pattern, but sometimes a slight change is necessary to make that scale fit better with your solo.

While I was looking at some scales, I also ran across the technical terms uses to describe the seven notes of a scale. The first note (the root) is called the tonic. The last note is also called a tonic. The second note is called the supertonic. The third is called the mediant, fourth is the subdominant, fifth note is the dominant, sixth is the submediant, the seventh note is often called a leading tone, if it is located a half step below the last note, which is the eighth note. It is called this because it tends to ‘want’ to transition into that eighth note. Your fourth note is also referred to as the generic fifth, which you will come across later in my posts.

Quiz: What is the subdominant (generic fifth) on the C melodic minor scale? Answer via comment.

More posts coming soon! If you have a question, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer it.