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The major scale in every key

Whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half — the same pattern from any starting note. Around the circle of fifths, each key adds one sharp, or (from F) one flat:

Every scale here

Major (Ionian) C: C D E F G A B

Western music's default "happy" scale — every step resolves smoothly toward the root. Catalogued as one of the medieval/Renaissance church modes (Ionian) and became the backbone of Western classical, folk, and pop music.

Natural minor (Aeolian) C: C D Eb F G Ab Bb

The darker mirror of the major scale, sharing the same notes as its relative major. Also one of the old church modes (Aeolian); the default minor sound in Western classical, folk, and rock music.

Harmonic minor C: C D Eb F G Ab B

Natural minor with a raised 7th, opening a dramatic gap between the 6th and 7th degrees. A Western classical invention (to give minor keys a proper leading tone), whose exotic-sounding gap later made it popular in metal and neoclassical shred guitar.

Melodic minor C: C D Eb F G A B

Natural minor with both the 6th and 7th raised, smoothing out harmonic minor's awkward gap for melodic lines. Classical theory reverts to natural minor when descending; jazz treats it as one fixed "jazz minor" scale.

Dorian C: C D Eb F G A Bb

A minor scale with a brighter, raised 6th — a modal, folk-flavored sound named after an ancient Greek tuning (more historical label than direct lineage). A mainstay of Celtic and medieval folk music, and of modal jazz (Miles Davis's "So What").

Phrygian C: C Db Eb F G Ab Bb

A minor scale with a flattened 2nd sitting right on top of the root, giving it a tense, dark edge. Common in flamenco-adjacent Spanish music (its cousin Phrygian dominant, below, gets even closer) and in metal riffing.

Lydian C: C D E F# G A B

A major scale with a raised 4th, creating an airy, "floating" quality. A favorite of film composers for wonder and dreaminess, and central to George Russell's influential Lydian Chromatic Concept in jazz.

Mixolydian C: C D E F G A A#

A major scale with a flattened 7th, giving it a bluesy, unresolved "dominant" color. Common across blues-rock, Celtic music, and classic-rock guitar soloing.

Locrian C: C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb

A minor scale with both the 2nd and 5th flattened — the only mode whose home chord is itself unstable (diminished). Rarely used as a true "home" scale; mostly heard as jazz color over half-diminished chords.

Major pentatonic C: C D E G A

The 5-note scale (drop the two half-step-adjacent tones from a major scale) at the root of folk traditions worldwide. Found independently in Scottish/Irish, Chinese, West African, and many other musical traditions.

Minor pentatonic C: C Eb F G Bb

The 5-note backbone of blues and rock guitar soloing, essentially natural minor with the 2nd and 6th removed. Rooted in West African scales carried to the Americas and fused with blues tonality.

Blues (hexatonic) C: C Eb F Gb G Bb

Minor pentatonic plus a "blue note" — a flattened 5th that adds a bent, vocal tension between the 4th and 5th. Grew out of African American blues and became foundational to jazz and rock improvisation.

Major blues C: C D D# E G A

Major pentatonic with a passing minor 3rd brushed against the major 3rd, the sound of a blue note dropped into a bright key. A staple of country and blues-rock guitar licks.

Egyptian (suspended) C: C D F G A#

A pentatonic with no 3rd at all, so it never resolves the way a major or minor scale does. Despite the name, it's a modern Western scale-catalog label rather than a scale drawn from actual traditional Egyptian music.

Bebop dominant C: C D E F G A A# B

A mixolydian scale with an added passing major 7th, giving it 8 notes so a straight eighth-note bebop line lands on a chord tone every downbeat. Codified by bebop pioneers like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in the 1940s.

Bebop major C: C D E F G G# A B

Major scale plus a passing flat 6th — bebop dominant's sibling, used for the same downbeat-alignment trick over major and 6th chords.

Lydian dominant (acoustic) C: C D E F# G A A#

Mixolydian with a raised 4th, combining Lydian's brightness with a dominant 7th's pull. A jazz staple over altered dominant chords, and known in classical circles as the "acoustic scale" since it approximates the natural overtone series.

Altered (super-Locrian) C: C C# D# E F# G# A#

Every tense alteration of a dominant chord stacked into one scale (b9, #9, #11, b13) — maximum pull back to the tonic. A core part of modern jazz improvisation since the bebop and post-bop eras.

Harmonic major C: C D E F G G# B

A major scale with a flattened 6th, giving it an unusual bittersweet color. A recognized but less common member of the classical "synthetic scale" family alongside harmonic minor.

Phrygian dominant (Freygish) C: C C# E F G G# A#

Phrygian with a raised 3rd, putting a major 3rd right next to a flat 2nd — the scale behind flamenco's "Spanish" sound, Ashkenazi Jewish freygish prayer music, Balkan music, and the Arabic maqam Hijaz family.

Double harmonic (Byzantine) C: C C# E F G G# B

Two augmented-2nd gaps give this scale a strikingly exotic sound; nicknamed "Byzantine" or "Arabic scale" in the West, though it isn't actually the core scale of Byzantine chant or Arabic maqam theory. Widely used across Balkan, Klezmer, and Middle Eastern-flavored music, and in metal.

Hungarian minor C: C D Eb Gb G Ab B

Harmonic minor with a raised 4th, adding a second dramatic augmented-2nd gap. A favorite of Hungarian and Romani ("Gypsy") violin and cimbalom music, and of composers like Liszt and Bartók who drew on that tradition.

Hungarian / Gypsy major C: C D# E F# G A A#

A major-scale relative with two augmented-2nd gaps of its own, giving it an ornamented, rippling quality. The brighter cousin of Hungarian minor, rooted in the same Hungarian/Romani fiddle tradition.

Neapolitan minor C: C Db Eb F G Ab B

Harmonic minor with a flattened 2nd. Named for the "Neapolitan chord" beloved by 18th- and 19th-century Italian opera composers working in and around Naples, later absorbed into broader Romantic classical harmony.

Neapolitan major C: C Db Eb F G A B

Melodic minor with a flattened 2nd — the Neapolitan's dark opening interval paired with melodic minor's bright raised 6th and 7th. A rarer scale, mostly found in 20th-century classical and jazz composition.

Persian C: C C# E F F# G# B

Multiple augmented-2nd gaps and a striking flat-2nd/major-3rd clash make this one of the more dramatic "exotic" scales in Western guitar and metal vocabulary. It's a 20th-century Western scale-catalog label, not a direct transcription of classical Persian dastgah theory (which, like Arabic maqam, actually uses quarter tones).

Enigmatic C: C C# E F# G# A# B

Giuseppe Verdi's own invention, built to be as harmonically strange as possible and published in his 1889 Ave Maria. It doesn't fit neatly into any earlier mode, and is used today mostly as an experimental color.

Whole tone C: C D E F# G# A#

Six equal whole-steps with no half-steps at all, giving it a completely symmetric, floating sound with no strong pull to any one note. The signature scale of Debussy and early-20th-century Impressionism, still common in dreamy film scoring.

Diminished (whole-half) C: C D Eb F Gb Ab A B

An 8-note scale alternating whole and half steps, symmetric every minor 3rd. Used over diminished-7th chords in jazz, and easy to sequence in repeating patterns.

Diminished (half-whole) C: C C# D# E F# G A A#

The other alternating 8-note diminished scale (half then whole steps), used over altered dominant chords in jazz — a favorite tool for bebop and fusion improvisers' angular runs.

Augmented C: C D# E G G# B

A 6-note scale alternating minor-3rd and half-step leaps, symmetric every major 3rd, with a stacked-augmented-triad sound. Explored by 20th-century composers interested in symmetric pitch collections, and used in jazz improvisation.

Hirajoshi C: C D Eb G Ab

A 5-note Japanese koto-tuning scale with two half-step "sigh" intervals, giving it a plaintive, melancholic character distinct from Western pentatonic scales. Part of the older "in" family of Japanese scales.

In (Sakura) C: C C# F G G#

Another koto/shamisen "in"-family pentatonic — the tuning behind folk melodies like Sakura Sakura. Its flat 2nd against an open 4th and 5th gives it a restrained, introspective quality typical of Edo-period Japanese music.

Iwato C: C C# F F# A#

A darker in-family pentatonic with two augmented-2nd-like gaps, giving it a stark, austere color. Used in traditional Japanese court and theatrical music.

Kumoi C: C D Eb G A

A pentatonic close to a natural-minor subset, associated with the koto and Japanese folk song. Despite resembling Hirajoshi, it belongs to the brighter "yo" family rather than the darker "in" family.

Yo C: C D F G A

The bright complement to the "in" scale family — close in feel to a major pentatonic without a strong leading tone. Common in Japanese folk song (min'yo) and children's songs.

Maqam Hijaz C: C C# E F G G# A#

Built on a flat 2nd against a major 3rd — the same interval shape as Phrygian dominant. Strongly associated with the Islamic call to prayer (adhan) and widely heard across Arabic, Turkish, and broader Middle Eastern music.

Raga Todi C: C Db Eb Gb G Ab B

A North Indian (Hindustani) raga considered one of the most serious and revered in the tradition, combining a flat 2nd, flat 3rd, sharp 4th, and major 7th. Traditionally performed in the late morning, per raga time theory.

Raga Ahir Bhairav C: C C# E F G A A#

Blends the devotional flat-2nd opening of raga Bhairav with a natural 7th borrowed from a different raga family, giving it a gentle, devotional character. Often performed to close all-night Hindustani concerts, near dawn.

Raga Marwa C: C C# E F# A B

A 6-note raga (no 5th degree at all) built around a sharp 4th and flat 2nd, deliberately avoiding the tonic's usual supporting 5th to create restlessness. Traditionally performed at sunset.

How to use it

1. Pick a root note. Choose the key or chord root, from C to B.
2. Choose a scale or a chord. Switch between Scale and Chord, then pick one: 40 scales from major and minor pentatonic to Hungarian minor and hirajoshi, or 22 chords from major and minor to m7b5 and 13.
3. Pick your instrument. Guitar, bass, ukulele or piano, with alternate tunings for the fretted ones. Show note names or intervals (1, ♭3, 5…) on the notes.
4. Hear it and explore. Press any fret or key to hear that note, or Play to hear the scale up and down or the chord strummed. Below a scale, press any chord in the key to see it on the fretboard.

Want to learn the theory behind it, a lesson at a time? BlockTheory is a free music theory and ear training course where every lesson builds a song.

Frequently asked questions

Is this scale finder free with no ads?

Yes. The RockBlocks scale and chord finder is free, with no ads and no sign-up.

What notes are in the A minor pentatonic scale?

A, C, D, E and G — the root, flat 3rd, 4th, 5th and flat 7th (1 ♭3 4 5 ♭7). It's the most-used scale in rock and blues soloing; the finder shows every place to play it on the guitar neck, starting from the 5th-fret box.

What is the formula for a major scale?

Whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half steps — the intervals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. C major is C D E F G A B; G major is G A B C D E F#.

What are the chords in a key?

Stack every other note of the scale on each degree. In any major key the triads are I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi and vii° — in C: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and Bdim; with 7ths: Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7 and Bm7♭5. Pick a seven-note scale and the finder lists its chords; press one to see it on the instrument.

What are the modes of the major scale?

Starting the major scale from each of its notes gives the seven modes: Ionian (major), Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian (natural minor) and Locrian. Each has its own mood — Dorian is minor with a bright 6th, Mixolydian is major with a flat 7th.

What notes are in a chord?

A major chord is the root, major 3rd and 5th (C E G for C); minor lowers the 3rd (C E♭ G); a dominant 7th adds the flat 7th (C E G B♭); a major 7th adds the major 7th (C E G B). Choose Chord and any type to see its notes and formula.

Does it work for bass, ukulele and piano?

Yes. Switch the instrument to 4- or 5-string bass, ukulele or baritone ukulele, or piano; the guitar also has drop D, half step down, DADGAD, open G, open D, open E and drop C tunings.

Can I hear the scale?

Yes. Press Play to hear the scale up and back down, or the chord strummed and then played note by note, and press any single note on the fretboard or keyboard to hear it.