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A piano reference: chords, scales, theory & ear training.
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Scales · Section index

Piano scales

Every scale type, major and minor through the exotic, each in all eighteen keys, and every entry opens with a keyboard you can play.

New to scales?

Four scales, in the order a teacher would give them to you.

Those four cover most of what you will play. Everything below is the complete catalogue, grouped by family.

Browse by key

Eighteen keys, both enharmonic spellings, C♯ and D♭ alike, each with its own entries.

Every scale, by family

The complete catalogue, grouped by family. Every name links to a full entry in all eighteen keys.

Major & Diatonic

The bright home base; where most music begins.

Minor Scales

Natural, harmonic and melodic: three shades of dark.

Pentatonic & Blues

Five notes that never clash; the improviser’s safety net.

Modal & Jazz

The colours between major and minor, plus the altered jazz palette.

Bebop & Exotic

Passing-tone lines and the exotic, far-flung scales.

Looking for the seven modes of the major scale? They live on their own at the modes hub.

The brightness spectrum

One way to hold every scale in your head: how bright or dark each one sounds.

Every family sits somewhere from luminous to shadowed; entries note where their scale lives.