Page Index
About the Scale Palette
The Scale Palette serves several functions. First, it gives you a complete overview of all 12 keys for any scale. You can use the Scale Palette as a reference to see how tones function in different modes and keys.
The Scale Palette also provides the means to set the context of your chords. You can define the key to which a chord belongs and which note in that key will serve as the root note of the chord (and that determines how the chord is named).
Finally, you can use the Scale Palette to add tones and triads to your chords by double and triple-clicking.
Palette Features
- Current Mode / Scale
- There are 10 scales available: the 7 modes of the Major Scale, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, and Oriental. The color of the scale's name indicates that the scale is Major, Minor, or Diminished.
- Scale Arrows
- Use these arrows to change scales.
- Scale Heading
- These are the tones of the Current Mode as they relate to the Major Scale. These are color coded to indicate the type of chord harmony that extends from each scale degree. There are four types indicated: Major, Minor, Diminished, and Other (in gray).
- Key Column
- The twelve keys are arranged by default in the order of the Circle of Fifths. You can click and drag in the Key Column to move the Scale Cursor between keys without affecting the horizontal position.
- Scale Box
All the scales are laid out here for you to see and interact with. You move the Scale Cursor by clicking in this box. You can also:
- Double-click to add a tone to the Current Chord.
- ⌥ Double-click to subtract a tone from the Current Chord.
- Triple-click to add a triad to the Current Chord.
- ⌥ Triple-click to subtract a triad from the Current Chord.
- Scale Cursor
-
You use the Scale Cursor to browse tones in the scale and to select a root tone for the Current Chord. A yellow border indicates that a tone is the root of the Current Chord.
- The ⌥↑ ⌥↓ ⌥← ⌥→ key combinations move the Scale Cursor.
- ⌥ Tab adds the Scale Tone to the Current Chord and moves the Scale Cursor up a third.
- Illumination Button
- Click this button to toggle tone illumination. When enabled, tones in the Current Chord are illuminated in the scale, and only the illuminated tones ring out when you click on them. When disabled all tones ring when you click on them.
- Tone Modifier
-
The tone modifier gives you access to tones outside the current keyscale by raising or lowering the tone at the Scale Cursor. The tone modifier remains in effect until you select a new chord or perform some operation that updates the chord root.
Chords and Scales
Chords are customarily built from three or more tones. (Two tones are called a harmony.) So to build a complete C triad start with the Root (C), add its third (E), and the next third (G). You can add a triad in a single step by triple-clicking on any note in the scale or by using the Triad Button.
Scales and chords are intimately related. A chord is said to "belong" to a scale if it contains only tones that appear in that scale. Any particular chord may fit into more than one key, which is what makes it possible to move between keys. The more notes a chord has the fewer keys it will fit.
Every 7-tone scale has 7 basic chord harmonies from which all its other chords are built. Each harmony is built from three successive thirds starting from its position in the scale. (A third corresponds to three steps in the scale, so for example if we want to find the tone a third up from F in the Ionian Scale we count F-G-A, which tells us that A is a third away from F.)
The seven harmonies of the key of C are shown here:
| Degree | Chord | Tones |
|---|---|---|
| I | C | C E G |
| II | Dm | D F A |
| III | Em | E G B |
| IV | F | F A C |
| V | G | G B D |
| VI | Am | A C E |
| VII | Bo | B D F |