Free scale finder

See a scale on the piano. Hear it. Find the one you are already playing.

Pick a root note and a scale and it lights up on a playable keyboard, numbered by step. Hear the chords it makes. Or go the other way: click the notes you have been playing and find out which scales contain them.

Root Scale

Click or tap the keys. On a computer, the row from A to the semicolon plays the white keys and the row above it plays the black ones.

You have heard it in

The chords it makes. Click one to hear it.

Chord progressions in this scale

How it works

1 Pick a root and a scaleThe lit keys are in the scale, and the number on each is its step. Step 1, the root, is a different colour: it is the note that feels like home.
2 Play itClick or tap the keys, or use the letter keys on a computer. Notes outside the scale are dimmed but still play, so you can hear why they are outside.
3 Hear its chordsEvery step of the scale makes a chord by taking every other note from there. The buttons play them and show which notes are in each.
4 Ask it backwardsIn What scale is this, click the notes of a melody or a riff. The scales that contain all of them are listed, with the tightest fit first.

What a scale is

There are twelve different notes. A scale is a choice of five or seven of them that sound good together, measured from one starting note, the root. Most music stays inside one scale for long stretches, which is why a note from outside it stands out. The same pattern of steps started from a different root is the same scale in a different key.

Why the numbers matter

Musicians number the notes of a scale from 1. Step 1 is home, step 5 pulls back toward it, step 3 decides whether the scale sounds happy or sad. Thinking in numbers means what you learn in C works unchanged in every other key: 1, 3, 5 is always the home chord.

Why two scales can share all their notes

C major and A minor use exactly the same seven notes. So do D dorian and G mixolydian. They are different scales because a different note is treated as home, and the melody and the bass keep returning to it. That is why the finder can give you several exact answers for one set of notes, and why the first note you click is used to break the tie.

Questions people ask

What scale am I playing in?

Switch to What scale is this and click every note you are using. Scales that contain all of them are listed, best fit first. If several are marked exact, they share the same notes, and the right one is the one whose root feels like home in your music.

Which scale should a beginner start with?

A pentatonic. With only five notes and nothing that clashes, almost anything you play sounds musical. Minor pentatonic for something moody or bluesy, major pentatonic for something bright.

What is the difference between major and minor?

The third step. In a major scale it is four semitones above the root, in a minor scale it is three. That one small move is most of the difference between a bright sound and a wistful one.

What are dorian and mixolydian?

Modes: scales made by starting a major scale from a different step. Dorian is a minor scale with a brighter sixth step, heard all over funk and folk music. Mixolydian is a major scale with a lowered seventh step, heard all over blues and rock.

Ready for the rest of the song?

The studio has this and everything around it: instruments, recipe blocks, an arranger, and a co-producer that explains every change it makes. Free to start, private until you share.

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