That means there’s only a single possible chromatic scale no matter how it’s transposed.Įven so, chromatic scales are often shown beginning on middle C to make things easier. Since each step in the scale has the same interval value of a single semitone, you can start on any note and follow the pattern to fill in the scale. The chromatic scale is the simplest scale to build because it’s made up of all twelve musical tones. The chromatic scale is all twelve notes of the musical alphabet arranged one after the other in a stepwise scale.Įach degree of the scale is separated by a half-step interval so that the chromatic scale covers both the white and black keys of the keyboard. In this article I’ll explain everything you need to know about chromatic scales. They situate your music in a key and determine the character of the notes and chords used in your song.īut aside from the major and minor keys, the modes of the major scale and all the other weird scales out there, there’s another essential scale that’s important to know-the chromatic scale.Ĭhromatic scales might seem like an obvious scale type, but they’re worth paying attention to as you build your musical vocabulary. Send us feedback.Musical scales are an essential building block of music theory. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chromatic scale.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Douglas Fields, Scientific American, 27 Mar. 2018 Now, rather than being limited to the five digits that evolution has given us, a pianist could playing by issuing mental instructions to 12 virtual fingers, one for each note on the chromatic scale (all the white and black keys in an octave). Joshua Barone, New York Times, 26 July 2019 One method, the Von Luschan chromatic scale, invented 36 different categories by comparing skin color to opaque colored tiles.Īrielle Pardes, WIRED, 26 Apr. 2019 The overture began promisingly, sedate and serene - with the Pilgrim’s Chorus theme, which returns near the end in the brasses, played over quiet, downward chromatic scales in the strings. 2020 At the 2016 trial, Led Zeppelin’s lawyers argued that what little the two songs had in common - similar chord progressions and a descending chromatic scale - had popped up in music for over 300 years.īen Sisario, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2020 The band’s lawyers argued that what little the two songs had in common - a chord progression and a descending chromatic scale - were musical elements too basic to be protected by copyright.īen Sisario, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2020 The quick march returns, but this time a dramatically slow rising chromatic scale for woodwinds, brass and strings brings the emotional level to its zenith with the last climactic repeat of the trio melody.īarrymore Laurence Scherer, WSJ, 4 Sep. 2021 Under its dictates, a musical work must deploy all 12 notes of the chromatic scale in precisely equal proportion throughout, foregoing the stable tonal center that had underpinned Western music for centuries. Recent Examples on the Web Resisting this hurry, Jyoti’s voice drags, slips backward down a chromatic scale, stops, changes keys, rises, turns corners and reconsiders.
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