Following up and expanding on a post about learning music theory with Auto-tune. See also a post about the major scale modes and an intro to minor keys.
So maybe you want to write a song or an instrumental in a particular mood or style, and you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the scales. Here’s a handy guide to the commonly used scales in western pop, rock, jazz, blues and so on. They’re shown in the way you’d program them into Auto-tune. Click each image to go to that scale’s Wikipedia page, where you can hear it, see it in traditional notation and pick up fun historical facts.
Major scales
These scales have a major third, which makes them feel happy or bright. See them side-by-side.
Happy; can be majestic or sentimental when slow. The white keys on the piano. Examples: “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”
Bluesy, rock; can also be exotic/modal. Play over C7 chord. Same pitches as F major. Example: “Tomorrow Never Knows” by the Beatles.
Ethereal, dreamy, futuristic. Same pitches as G major. Example: “Possibly Maybe” by Björk (from the line “As much as I definitely enjoy solitude…”)
Exotic, Middle Eastern, Jewish. Same pitches as F harmonic minor. Example: “Hava Nagila.”
Minor Scales
These scales have a flat third, which gives them a darker and more tragic feel. See them side-by-side.
Sentimental, tragic. Same pitches as E flat major.
Tragic, exotic, Middle Eastern.
Mysterious, jazzy, very dark. Example: sixties Coltrane. See a blog post about melodic minor.
Hip, sophisticated, jazzy. Same pitches as B flat major. Example: “So What” by Miles Davis.
Spanish/Flamenco. Same pitches as A flat major.
Synthetic Scales
These scales are based on regular, symmetric patterns. See them side-by-side.
All the piano keys. Freefalling, anxiety-producing. Same pitches as every other chromatic scale.
Dreamy, underwater. Every other key on the piano. Same pitches as D, E, F sharp, G sharp and A sharp whole tone scales. Example: Background parts in the Simpsons theme song.
Dark, mysterious. Same pitches as E flat, G flat and A diminished scales. Examples: movies about Dracula.
Pentatonics and blues
Pentatonic scales have five notes. The blues scale is the minor pentatonic plus the flat fifth. See them side-by-side.
Joyful; widely used in world and folk music. Major scale with 4th and 7th removed. Same pitches as A minor pentatonic. Here’s a blog post about playing pentatonics on guitar.
Rock; widely used in world and folk music. Minor scale with 2nd and 6th removed. Same pitches as E flat major pentatonic. Here’s a blog post about playing pentatonics on guitar.
Blues, obviously. Works great over major and minor chords. Minor pentatonic with flat fifth added.
Making chords
To make basic chords from the major and minor scales, start with the first note, then skip to the third, then the fifth. Using C Dorian, that’s C, Eb, G. This is called a triad, and it’s the simplest type of chord.
To extend the chords, add in the seventh, the second/ninth, the fourth/eleventh, and the sixth/thirteenth. Using C Dorian, that’s Bb, D, F, A. The more notes you add, the more complex and dense the chord becomes.
You can also skip or leave out notes: C, Eb, Bb, F for example. Also, you can double notes (especially the first/root.)
Don’t put fourths/elevenths into major chords unless you leave the third out, it sounds very dissonant.
Have fun!
Update: thanks to the enthusiastic users of Stumbleupon, this is by far the most-read post on this blog. Thanks for all the Stumbles, folks!
17 Comments
“Don’t put fourths/elevenths into major chords unless you leave the third out” Now where’s the fun in that?
Yeah, I know, really you should feel free to do whatever you want and I can cite a few examples where people use the third and fourth together and it sounds cool, but this is aimed at the mainstream.
Cool little list, mate.
Thanks, Mr Shark.
Hi there,
I found your work while searching about the emotions that we associate to different scales or chords. This search is in the context of an academic research, in the field of affective computing and non-verbal communication.
This is exactly what i was searching for, but it lacks references =) Could you please recommend me some literature where i can find the concepts you describe in this post? I would really love to know of a book or something that is, to music, what Goethe’s “Theory of Colors” is to color, however, i don’t know of such work. If you could help me out, I would appreciate it.
Thanks!
Tiago Ribeiro
Hi Tiago. The post lacks references because I have no idea where you’d go in the literature to find these concepts. I learned them from experience with music — all of the descriptions here are my own best attempt at describing common practice usage of the scales. If you do find any books or anything, please post a comment, and I’d love to read what you’re working on.
This is a fantastic post for so many reasons. This whole blog is great — I love it that you’re a FB skeptic! In re music and emotion, tho, this article by a colleague of mine sheds a wee little bit of light on the subject: http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=843
Glad you’re enjoying the blog. That article by your colleague sheds more than a wee little bit of light, there’s much food for thought there, another couple of blog posts worth at least. Thanks for writing!
This is great! Now I have to go listen to Dracula soundtracks!
Chris
Locrian? Where is Locrian?
I omitted it because it’s not very widely used except in jazz, and then only in very specific contexts. I figured the jazz experts already know how it sounds and most people don’t need to know it.
Octatonic is a synthetic scale!
thanks for all these usedul informations about pentatonical music! as for a kinda add-on to your informations, african music as well as traditionnal asiatic music are pentatonical
So you’re saying that the melodic minor scale sounds dark? I would have said that the major 6th especially makes it sound bright! Obviously you’ve got the minor third there to balance it out a bit, but I disagree that it’s a “dark” scale…
Also, the scale you’ve called “Ahava Raba” I’ve always known as the “Phrygian Dominant” as it resembles the phrygian mode but with a major third. So I was a bit thrown by that one!
Those aren’t disagreements, this is a really informative post overall!
Rob.
i remember when I was a young organist’s apprentice my teacher was improvising for a postlude in some strange harmony; after his virtuosic composition ended I told him I liked the mode he employed, to which he replied “oh, yeah that’s a Hungarian myxoldyian scale” or some shit like that, but he said it so nonchalantly that i always remembered that. Learning music is a Socratic knowledge; the more I learn the more I learn I do not know
I think it’s easier to read scales if you simply write the scale degree numbers 1-7 and add inflections. For example, Ahava raba:
1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7, which I would also normally call the Spanish Phrygian or Klezmer – what’s in a name….?
Yes, thank you! I’ve been looking for these! I like to play around in music making software like Cubase, and once in a while I would run into a combination of notes that just reminded me of ‘mysteriousness,’ or ‘egyptian.’ I played some of the scales above and it helps clear it up.
AND I have more emotion-induced scales to play around with. This is a lifesaver–especially for the unknowledgeable music maker. =D
~Merc
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