Pop Music Theory


Lessons in Order

1-7 (Intro & Pitch) +
8-18 (Major Scale) -
8: Scales
19-29 (Chord Progressions) +
30-34 (Hook Chords) +
35-41 (Written Notes) +
42-50 (Song Chorus) +

Lessons by Topic

Strategy +
Pitches +
Scales +
8: Scales
Written Notes +
Chords +
Chord Progressions +
Melody +
Songwriting Steps +
Science +
Games & Tools +
Song Examples: Crazy +
Song Examples: Rolling Stone +

Detailed Contents

Lesson 8: Scales

This lesson explains what a scale is. You'll need to understand scales to understand chords and melodies.

Before taking this lesson, you should know:
A scale is a particular sequence of pitch names, arranged in order from low to high. Here are some examples of scales and the pitches in them:

Scale Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
B major scale: BC♯D♯ EF♯G♯A♯
B natural minor scale: BC♯D EF♯GA
D♭ major scale: D♭E♭F G♭A♭B♭C

Here are some important basic facts about the most common scales (some of these things are not true of all scales):
  • These common scales each contain 7 different pitches, numbered 1-2-3-4-5-6-7.
  • A scale's numbered pitches are called the degrees of the scale. For example, from the table above we can say that "the 3rd degree of the B major scale is D♯".
  • A scale's starting pitch is called the tonic.
  • A scale's name is its tonic (its starting pitch, like B or D♭) plus its scale type (like "major scale" or "natural minor scale").
  • These common scales use each letter-name (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) exactly once. What makes each scale different from the others (besides which pitch it starts on) is the flat (♭) or sharp (♯) (or neither) on each pitch.
  • For these common scales, the distance between each degree of the scale is (usually) either a whole-step or half-step.
  • The thing that makes one scale type different from another is its order of half-steps and whole-steps. For example, "for the major scale scale type, is the distance from degree 3 to degree 4 a half-step or whole-step?".

Next:
Start learning about the major scale (the most "fundamental" scale type) in Lesson 9: Major Scale 1-2-3.


Lessons in Order

1-7 (Intro & Pitch) +
8-18 (Major Scale) -
8: Scales
19-29 (Chord Progressions) +
30-34 (Hook Chords) +
35-41 (Written Notes) +
42-50 (Song Chorus) +

Lessons by Topic

Strategy +
Pitches +
Scales +
8: Scales
Written Notes +
Chords +
Chord Progressions +
Melody +
Songwriting Steps +
Science +
Games & Tools +
Song Examples: Crazy +
Song Examples: Rolling Stone +

Detailed Contents

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