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Scale & Chord Note Finder

Show the notes, scale degrees and diatonic chords of any major, minor, modal, pentatonic or blues scale from a chosen root.

About this tool

Look up the notes of any scale and the chords that come from it, right in your browser. Choose a root note and a scale or mode — major, natural minor, the church modes, harmonic and melodic minor, major and minor pentatonic, or blues — and it lists the notes, their scale degrees and, for seven-note scales, the diatonic triads with roman numerals. Everything is computed locally.

Each scale is defined by a pattern of semitone steps, for example major is [2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1]. A running (cumulative) sum of those steps, taken modulo 12 from the root, gives the pitch class of each note, which is then spelled to the key using proper letter names so every degree gets its own letter. The diatonic chords are built by stacking thirds within the scale and are labelled major, minor, diminished or augmented from the intervals between the stacked notes.

For example, C major returns C D E F G A B with chords I ii iii IV V vi vii°. Use it to learn a key's notes, find the chords that fit a progression, or explore modes and pentatonic shapes for improvising.

Frequently asked questions

How are the scale notes found?
From the semitone step pattern of the scale: a cumulative sum modulo 12 from the root gives each note's pitch, which is then given a proper letter-name spelling for the key.
How are the diatonic chords built?
By stacking thirds within the scale — the 1st, 3rd and 5th scale degrees form each triad — and reading its quality (major, minor, diminished, augmented) from the intervals.
What do the roman numerals mean?
They mark each chord's scale degree: uppercase for major, lowercase for minor, a ° for diminished and a + for augmented, so I ii iii IV V vi vii° is a major key.
Why don't pentatonic and blues scales show chords?
Diatonic triads are stacked from seven-note scales. Five- and six-note scales like pentatonic and blues don't form a standard triad set, so only their notes and degrees are shown.

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