What is the
Let’s dive deeper into Intervals and figure out what the scales are. Scales are a selection of notes, out of the chromatic scale (12 notes). They are constructed using steps.
The relative steps of the blues scale are: wh-w-h-h-wh-w (w=whole step, h=half step, w=whole and half step).
Let’s explore how that exactly works:
Chromatic intervals
To explain the the blues scale best, take a look at the piano. Especially to the highlighted notes. Those are the notes in the blues scale.
Notice the numbers of the highlighted notes.
Schematically they look like this:
Diatonic intervals
If we would re-number the highlighted notes (instead of using the absolute numbers of the chromatic scale) we create a new interval (scale) that looks like this.
Notice again the numbers of the highlighted notes.
Schematically they look like this:
What does diatonic mean?
The term “diatonic” basically means two tones. This refers to the two different kinds of steps that occur in major scales. The term “diatonic” is used to mean “of the scale”. If you’re playing in the key of C major and you’re using C major notes, then the notes you’re using are diatonic. In the example above (with the piano), you saw that only the notes of scale are included, they only have notes “of the scale”.
Step names
The steps of a diatonic scale are known by these names:- 1st – Tonic (key note)
- 2nd – Supertonic
- 3rd – Mediant
- 4th – Subdominant
- 5th – Dominant
- 6th – Submediant
- 7th – Leading tone
- 8th – Tonic (Octave)
Scale degree
The scale degree tells how the scale is transformed.
The diatonic intervals 2♭4♭6♭ are flat, hence the ♭ sign. Flat means to go down a half step. On piano that's one key down, on a guitar that's one fret down.
If you scroll back to the piano above, you’ll notice the black keys correspond to this.
The on the in key of
Back to the guitar! You might wonder how this all translates back to your instrument and that might be a bit confusing at first, but please stay tuned. As you just seen, the chromatic intervals for blues scale are 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 11. To most people, this is not very useful information. The steps are more important to know. Try to learn that by heart. From there it is way more interesting and practical to look at diatonic scale intervals.
Switch between chromatic/diatonic/notes below to see/learn the relations between them. For convenience, the root note (C) is highlighted.
The following table contains overview of the most used scales and its intervals.
| Scale name | Interval | Degree | Steps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major scale | 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | w-w-h-w-w-w-h |
| Minor scale | 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11 | 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, ♭7 | w-h-w-w-h-w-w |
| Melodic minor scale | 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 | 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | w-h-w-w-w-w-h |
| Harmonic minor scale | 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12 | 1, 2, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭6, 7 | w-h-w-w-h-wh-h |
| Blues scale | 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11 | 1, ♭3, 4, ♭5, 5, ♭7 | wh-w-h-h-wh-w |
| Minor pentatonic scale | 1, 4, 6, 8, 11 | 1, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭7 | wh-w-w-wh-w |
| Major pentatonic scale | 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 | w-w-wh-w-wh |
| Overview of more scales | |||
- Scale degree
- ♭=half step down, ♯=half step up
- Steps
- w=whole step, h=half step, w=whole and half step
As you might notice, the scales have 7 notes, except for the blues and pentatonic scales.