Scale finder
A scale is the set of notes a piece of music draws from; a key is that scale with one note as home. Pick a home note and a scale to hear it played up and down, see its notes on the keys and play the chords that fit, or tap the notes of a tune further down to find its key. No sign-up, nothing to install.
The scale explorer
C major scale
Seven notes, bright and settled: the sound of most pop.
- C1
- D2
- E3
- F4
- G5
- A6
- B7
Steps (W whole, H half): W W H W W W H
One chord on each note of the scale, built from the scale’s own notes. Any melody in C major fits over them.
C major has the same notes as , its relative minor: the same notes with a different home.
Tap any key to hear it. The link in the address bar keeps your key and scale.
Write melodies that fit
The course teaches keys, chords and melody by ear, one playable step at a time, in your browser. Unit 1 is free with a Google sign-in.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1; keys come in Unit 4: Harmony, and melody in Unit 5.
How to use the scale finder
Pick a home note, then a scale. The keyboard tints the scale’s notes green and puts an amber dot on the home note, and the strip above it names each note with its degree: 1 is the home note, ♭3 is the third lowered by one key, and so on. Press play to hear the scale climb to the octave and come back down.
Steps. Every scale is a pattern of steps. W is a whole step, two keys along counting the black ones; H is a half step, the very next key. Major is W W H W W W H from any home note, which is why every major scale sounds alike, only higher or lower. Pentatonic scales skip a note in two places, shown as W+H.
Chords that fit. Under the keys are the chords built from the scale’s own notes, one on each note, with their Roman numerals. Tap one to hear it, or play them in order. A pentatonic scale borrows its parent key’s chords; the blues scale goes with the three seventh chords of a 12-bar blues.
Finding a key. Have a melody but not its key? Tap its notes on the octave below. Every key that holds all of them is listed; open one and listen for the note that sounds like the end of the tune. That is home.
What you just heard: the raw material of a melody. The pentatonic riff pattern is five notes of A minor pentatonic in a loop, and the call-and-response hook shows how a tune in A minor ends on its home note. The course’s lesson “The key” teaches keys by ear.
Find a key from a few notes
Play the tune on any instrument, or hum it, and tap each note you hear. Which octave doesn’t matter. Tap a note again to take it out.
Tap the notes of a tune, a riff or a chord. The keys that hold all of them show up here.
Every major scale and its relative minor
Each major key shares its notes with a minor key, its relative minor, which starts on the major scale’s sixth note. Tap a key to open it above.
| Major key | Notes | Sharps or flats | Relative minor |
|---|---|---|---|
| C major | C D E F G A B | none | A minor |
| G major | G A B C D E F♯ | 1 sharp | E minor |
| D major | D E F♯ G A B C♯ | 2 sharps | B minor |
| A major | A B C♯ D E F♯ G♯ | 3 sharps | F♯ minor |
| E major | E F♯ G♯ A B C♯ D♯ | 4 sharps | C♯ minor |
| B major | B C♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯ A♯ | 5 sharps | G♯ minor |
| F♯ major | F♯ G♯ A♯ B C♯ D♯ E♯ | 6 sharps | D♯ minor |
| D♭ major | D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C | 5 flats | B♭ minor |
| A♭ major | A♭ B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G | 4 flats | F minor |
| E♭ major | E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C D | 3 flats | C minor |
| B♭ major | B♭ C D E♭ F G A | 2 flats | G minor |
| F major | F G A B♭ C D E | 1 flat | D minor |