profilesbion.blogg.se - Notes in an octave

So far all the scales we have discussed fit this definition. However, unfortunately our beloved whole-tone, diminished, blues and chromatic scales are excluded because they have too many/few notes… Definition 4: Counts If It Is a Subset of the 12 Chromatic NotesĪ subset of the 12 chromatic notes is any collection of 12 or less notes with no duplicates. According to this definition there are 266 possible scales. If played in an ascending/descending order this would typically be called an arpeggio not a scale.ĭefinition 3 excludes the diminished chord as a scale, but includes the Harmonic Minor Scale.

So a scale can include minor 3rds right? Well, if we create a scale of only minor 3rd intervals we end up with a diminished chord. Why is this a reasonable definition? Notice that the harmonic minor scale has a leap of a minor 3rd between its 6th and seventh scale degrees. Cook’s article on the number of scales, and is a bit more nuanced.ĭefinition 3: A scale is a set of 8 unique notes in which the highest and lowest notes are one octave apart and adjacent note are no more than a minor 3rd apart. There are only 3 sets of notes used in diminished scales.ĭefinition 3: Counted If It Has 8 Notes per Octave

Diminished with diminished – Diminished scales include 8 distinct notes per octave following a pattern of alternating whole and half notes.

Chromatic with chromatic – there is only one set of notes used in the chromatic scale – that set is all of the notes.

One of them is C D E F♯ G♯ A♯ and the other is C♯ D♯ F G A B.

Whole tone with whole tone – in fact there are only 2 sets of notes used in a whole tone scale.

Major with natural minor – A major key’s relative minor key have the same notes.

Perhaps you are already familiar with relative major/minor scales such as C major and A minor which use the same notes but different starting points.īelow is a list of scales that use the same set of notes but different starting points. Some of these scales use the same set of notes. With our new definition we have a total of 204 scales. Scaleħ (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian) Here is a list of common musical scale types. Definition 2: Counted If It Is a Common Type of Scale There are 3 types of minor scales: natural, harmonic and melodic, so 3* 12 =36 minor scales. There are 12 major scales – one for each of the 12 notes in an octave.

This includes folk music of many cultures, pop music and western classical music of the past 500 years. The majority of music today is centered around these scales.

The most rigid definition of a scale is: a scale is one of the standard major and minor scales. Definition 1: Counted If It is a Major or Minor Scale The long answer? It could be more than 200, more than 25,000 or infinity depending on the definition. They can improve sightreading, improvisation, and technique.īut how many scales are there? The short answer is that there are 48 total major and minor scales. Learning scales is a fundamental part of learning any instrument.