Instrumaps

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Scales & modes

A scale is a small map of notes a melody draws from. Each page here takes one scale or mode, shows you the formula and the notes, and lets you hear why it sounds the way it does — the blues scale's ache, the major scale's resolve, Dorian's brightness.

17 scales

Genre

Kind

Six notes behind most blues, rock, and jazz solos: the five-note minor pentatonic plus one extra key, the flattened fifth 'blue note.'

1 – ♭3 – 4 – ♭5 – 5 – ♭7

Also Minor blues scale · Hexatonic blues scale · Blue note scale

The major scale started from its second degree — minor, but with a bright raised sixth.

1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – ♭7

Also Kafi · Kharaharapriya

Double harmonic

Freygish with its seventh raised too, so it carries two augmented seconds — the scale often sold as 'the Arabic scale,' also called Hijaz Kar or Byzantine.

1 – ♭2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – 7

Also Double harmonic major · Byzantine scale · Arabic scale

Freygishפֿרייגיש

Flattened second, major third, and the augmented-second leap between them — the signature mode of klezmer, also known as Ahava Rabbah or Phrygian dominant.

1 – ♭2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7

Also Phrygian dominant · Ahava Rabbah · Spanish Phrygian

Natural minor with its seventh raised — one changed note that gives the scale a pull toward home and the wide augmented-second step that klezmer, flamenco, and Middle Eastern music share.

1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – 7

Also Aeolian ♯7 · Mohammedan scale · Kirwani

The darkest mode of the major scale: Phrygian with the fifth lowered too, so even the home chord is unstable.

1 – ♭2 – ♭3 – 4 – ♭5 – ♭6 – ♭7

Also Half-diminished scale

The major scale with a raised fourth — brighter than bright, floating rather than settled. The fourth mode of the major scale.

1 – 2 – 3 – ♯4 – 5 – 6 – 7

Also Kalyan · Yaman · Mechakalyani

The major pentatonic plus one blue note, the ♭3 — the sunny twin of the usual blues scale, behind country, gospel, and swing licks.

1 – 2 – ♭3 – 3 – 5 – 6

Also Major blues scale · Blues major

Major pentatonic

Five bright notes with no half steps: the major scale minus its fourth and seventh, and the same keys as the minor pentatonic three keys down.

1 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 6

Also Gong mode · Bhupali · Mohanam

The seven-note baseline every other scale is measured against: W–W–H–W–W–W–H.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7

Also Ionian mode · Do-re-mi scale · Bilaval

Harmonic minor with the sixth raised as well — a minor scale below, a major scale above, and no augmented second. The jazz minor.

1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7

Also Jazz minor scale · Ascending melodic minor · Gourimanohari

Minor pentatonic

Five notes, none of them neighbours — the safest scale to solo with, and the blues scale minus its blue note.

1 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – ♭7

Also Yu mode · Min'yō scale · Dhani

Mixolydian mode

The major scale with a lowered seventh — the bright, unresolved sound of harmonica second position, rock riffs, and dominant chords.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – ♭7

Also Dominant scale · Khamaj · Harikambhoji

The major scale's darker twin: same seven keys as its relative major, or the major scale with the third, sixth, and seventh each lowered a key.

1 – 2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7

Also Aeolian mode · Relative minor · Asavari

Natural minor with a lowered second — the note one key above home that leans back onto it. Dark, tense, and one raised third away from freygish.

1 – ♭2 – ♭3 – 4 – 5 – ♭6 – ♭7

Also Bhairavi · Hanumatodi · Kurd

The foundational Arabic maqam: a major-scale shape whose third and seventh sit a quarter tone flat — playable on a piano only if two of its keys are bent.

1 – 2 – ½♭3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – ½♭7

Also Maqam Rast · Rast makamı

Ukrainian Dorianמי שברך

Dorian with a raised fourth — Mi Sheberakh to klezmer musicians: the mode of the doina, with the augmented second tucked between ♭3 and ♯4.

1 – 2 – ♭3 – ♯4 – 5 – 6 – ♭7

Also Mi Sheberakh · Romanian minor · Dorian ♯4