Learn
Take one note out of a major scale, and the six that are left start to behave differently.
Every example is in G. On the keyboards, the note taken out is marked in red, and gold lights only what you are hearing.
01
G major has exactly one tritone, the tense gap from C up to F♯. Take out C or F♯ and it is gone. Take out any other note and it stays.
| take out | what’s left | tritone? |
|---|---|---|
| G | A B C D E F♯ | 1 |
| A | G B C D E F♯ | 1 |
| B | G A C D E F♯ | 1 |
| C | G A B D E F♯ | none |
| D | G A B C E F♯ | 1 |
| E | G A B C D F♯ | 1 |
| F♯ | G A B C D E | none |
02
G major without its 4th is G A B D E F♯. Start the same six notes on E and you have E minor without its ♭6.
One set of notes, two homes. The note both leave out is C.
G major, no 4th
E minor, no ♭6
03
Stack the six notes in thirds from G: G, B, D, F♯, A and E. That is Gmaj13 without its 11th, and every note of the scale is in it.
The one third the stack skips is C, the note we took out.
stacked in thirds, low to high
04
The six notes make four triads: G, B minor, D and E minor.
Full G major has three more, A minor, C and F♯°, and all three need the C.
G
G B D
Bm
B D F♯
D
D F♯ A
Em
E G B
05
Move three scale steps at a time (G to D, A to E and so on) and every jump is a perfect fourth or fifth: six out of six.
In full G major, C to F♯ breaks the chain, and C is the note we took out.
six notes: all perfect
seven notes: C–F♯ breaks the chain
And in rhythm
Play a scale in accented groups over a 4/4 bar of 16th notes, and count the bars until the first note of the scale, the accent and beat 1 meet again.
Six splits into 2s and 3s, so it lines up with most groupings (here, groups of 3, 4, 6 and 9). Seven is prime and lines up only with groups of 7.
| accent every | six notes | seven notes |
|---|---|---|
| 3 notestisra | 3 bars | 21 bars |
| 4 noteschatusra | 3 bars | 7 bars |
| 5 noteskhanda | 15 bars | 35 bars |
| 6 notes | 3 bars | 21 bars |
| 7 notesmisra | 21 bars | 7 bars |
| 9 notessankeerna | 9 bars | 63 bars |