Brighton Music Academy · Theory tool
Scale Harmony Explorer: What’s Left of the Major Scale in All 462 Scales
Every 7-note scale shares at least 5 of its notes with some major scale, and never only 4. Pick any of the 462 scales to see which notes it keeps, and which major, minor, 7th, sus4 and power chords and pentatonic scales from the Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian system still live inside it.
C Major (Ionian)
On the fretboard
Tap any chord above or below to light it up here and hear it. Tap a dot to hear one note. Blue dots are shared with the major key, orange dots are outside it.
Every chord in this scale
Built on each note of the scale. Blue chords are remnants of the major key; orange chords are new harmony this scale adds.
Pentatonic scales inside it
The 5-or-6 rule
There are 792 ways to choose 7 of the 12 notes. Ignore the key and they fall into 66 families, each with 7 modes, which gives 462 scales you can play from any root. We compared every one of the 792 note sets against all 12 major scales. Every single one shares at least 5 notes with some major scale:
- 1 family shares all 7: the major scale itself and its modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian).
- 22 families share 6: one note away from a major scale, like harmonic minor, melodic minor and harmonic major.
- 43 families share 5: two notes away, like double harmonic major, Hungarian major and the Neapolitan scales.
No scale shares only 4. The reason: the 5 notes a major scale leaves out form a pentatonic scale (the black keys of the piano, for C major). Whatever 7 notes you choose, at least one of the 12 major scales has no more than 2 of your notes sitting in its “left out” group.
Families that share 6 notes
Families that share 5 notes
Scale studies
Before building this tool, I started a blog series analyzing one scale family at a time, looking for the chords each one keeps from the major and minor systems. The plan was to write a composition for each. Here are the first four studies, with my audio demos and harmony breakdowns. Tap “Open in the explorer” to load any of them above.
Scale study 1: 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 6
The first scale I picked at random from the 66 families. It sits close to the Phrygian mode and the minor blues scale: leave out D♭ and you nearly have the 6-note E minor blues scale. Chords that give it structure include E minor, A and A7, Fmaj7(no5) and G7(no5).
Scale study 2: Blues Scale Major 7th ♭13
An expanded minor blues scale. It contains the whole E blues scale except that a major 7th (D♯) replaces the minor 7th, for a hybrid minor-major sound that suits jazz, fusion and expressive soloing. Usable chords include E minor, Am7, B7(no5), Cmaj7 and C7.
Scale study 3: Guitar Modal Scale
This scale blends major harmony with dominant and modal tension. D, F♯ and A all have major triads, and F♯ and A have minor triads too, so its 3rd and 5th modes can work as major or minor centers. It sounds especially good in open-5th guitar tunings, where the strings ring out roots and 5ths under the melody.
Scale study 4: Lydian Dominant–Inspired Chromatic Scale
Five chromatic notes in a row (A to D♭), yet it still supports functional harmony. It has only two perfect 5ths (E♭–B♭ and C–G), one major triad (E♭) and one minor triad (C minor), but plenty of 7th chords without the 5th: Am7(no5), A7(no5), Bmaj7(no5) and Cm7. The demo uses Cm7 – Bmaj7(no5) – Cm7/B♭ – A7.
How to read the results
- Closest major key. The major key that shares the most notes with your scale. Many scales tie between two or more keys; tap any of them to compare. We list first the one that keeps the most diatonic chords.
- Diatonic chords kept. The chords of that major key, with Roman numerals, built from the shared notes only. Crossed-out chords need a note your scale doesn’t have.
- 7th chords without the 5th. Shells like G7no5 (G, B, F), Gmaj7no5 (G, B, F♯) and Gm7no5 (G, B♭, F) keep a chord’s quality even when the 5th is the note that changed. They often survive when the full 7th chord doesn’t.
- Power chords and sus4 chords. No 3rd, so they survive almost anywhere, which is why they work over so many exotic scales.
- New harmony. Orange chords use the scale’s outside notes. Augmented triads never appear in a major scale, so any you see are new.
Want the fretboard view of every scale without the harmony? Explore all of them in our sister academy’s 462 guitar scales tool.
Learn to use these sounds in real music
Our teachers cover modes, exotic scales, chord building and improvisation in private lessons at our Brighton studio.
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