Articles: What Is Music? | What Are Notes? | Sharps And Flats | Half Steps And Whole Steps | What Is A Scale? | The Major Scale | What Is A Key?
What is a Scale?
Scales are sets of notes that are used as a guide to build melodies and harmonies. The notes that are in a scale are determined by a preset pattern of whole steps and half steps.
Scales have names (ex. C Major, G minor) and these names tell us two things about the scale.
- The root note (aka. tonal center)
- The pattern of whole steps and half steps that is used to construct the scale