Introduction

Been skipping music theory again? Or just want to learn a few new skalez? Well I got bored again! So heres a list I compiled of various scales listed as raw-notes all in the key of C. Kind of a crash course in basic scales and some basic theory too but…

Transposing Scales:

To change the key of the scales below (they are all in C so that I didnt have to list too many of them) simply transpose (move all the notes up or down x amount) to the desired key.

For instance: This is a list of the all the notes available on a keyboard with a C Major interval (or basically us noticing what notes make CMajor) layed across the top.

------/--------------------------------------\--
------| 1----2----3----4----5----6----7----- |---
------| C C# D -- D# E F F# G G# A A# B ---- |---
------\--------------------------------------/---
CMajor= C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- A -- B -----

The key of C Major is always the easiest because it contains no sharps! Only whole notes. Its interval is called 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. (A CMajor chord btw is 1,3,5 or C,E,G).

The numbers above are the intervals I’ve added for C Major. Notice that it counts up like this:

1 = whole note
2 = whole note
3 = half note
4 = whole note
5 = whole note
6 = whole note
7 = half note

We are simply ignoring the notes falling in between the numbers. This interval can be used for any major scale! So by this theory lets try graphing D Major.

First, write down all the notes starting with D and add our numbers, leaving a blank between 3-4 and between 7-1

/------------------------------------\
| 1----2----3----4----5----6----7----|
| D-D#-E--F-F#---G-G#-A-A#-B--C-C#---|
\------------------------------------/

Notice a difference between CMaj and DMaj? Yep, all the notes in the CMajor scale simply moved up 2 notes!

CMaj= C D E F G A B
DMaj= D E F# G A B C#

(DMajor Chord= 1-D, 3-F#, 5-A)

Okay, so to transpose to given keys, just move the notes up the appropriate amount of half-notes.

C 0
C# 1
D 2
D# 3
E 4
F 5
F# 6
G 7
G# 8
A 9
A# 10
B 11
C2 12

Decompiling Intervals

You will notice in the upcoming list of scales that there are intervals listed for the counting. This is added so that people curious about how these scales are derived – they can simply graph it out again. Unless you really know your stuff and just do it in your head.

a CMajor interval:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C D E F G A B

a Cminor interval:
1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7
C D D# F G G# B

Note: b3 simply translated means 3rd Interval flattened (moved down a half-note).
#3 simply translated means 3rd Interval sharpened (moved up a half-note)