Sounds
Tap any one to hear it. Each is shown in the key you pick, spelled the way a player reads it, and one tap away from Practice.
Take a seven-note scale and leave one note out.
1 2 3 5 6 7
The major 7th is there and the 4th is not, so nothing rubs against the major 3rd.
Same six notes
A Suspended (no 3rd) · B Dark minor (no 2) · D Folk major (no 7) · E Minor (no 6) · F♯ Phrygian (no 5th)
One note away
1 2 3 4 5 6
No 7th, so there is no leading note pulling upward; plain, singable major.
Same six notes
C Major (no 4) · D Suspended (no 3rd) · E Dark minor (no 2) · A Minor (no 6) · B Phrygian (no 5th)
One note away
1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭7
The ♭3 and ♭7 make it minor; with no 6th it sits between Dorian and Aeolian.
Same six notes
B♭ Major (no 4) · C Suspended (no 3rd) · D Dark minor (no 2) · F Folk major (no 7) · A Phrygian (no 5th)
One note away
1 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7
The ♭6 darkens it, and with no 2nd there is nothing to soften the ♭3.
Same six notes
E♭ Major (no 4) · F Suspended (no 3rd) · B♭ Folk major (no 7) · C Minor (no 6) · D Phrygian (no 5th)
One note away
1 2 4 5 6 ♭7
No 3rd, so it is neither major nor minor; the 4th and ♭7 hold it suspended.
Same six notes
F Major (no 4) · A Dark minor (no 2) · C Folk major (no 7) · D Minor (no 6) · E Phrygian (no 5th)
One note away
1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭6 ♭7
The ♭2 gives it its colour, and with no 5th above the tonic it never settles.
Same six notes
A♭ Major (no 4) · B♭ Suspended (no 3rd) · C Dark minor (no 2) · E♭ Folk major (no 7) · F Minor (no 6)
One note away
1 2 3 5 6 ♭7
The dominant colour. It keeps its tritone (3 and ♭7), so it pulls where the diatonic hexachord rests.
Same six notes
C major without 1 · A natural minor without ♭3 · D melodic minor without 7
One note away
Remove each note in turn and count the tritones left.
One tritone (4–7). Knock out either member and it is gone: those are the only two tritone-free rows.
Take a five-note scale and add one note.
1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7
Minor pentatonic plus the ♭5. The same six notes as the major blues a minor third up: C blues is E♭ major blues.
Same six notes
B♭ Major blues
One note away
1 2 ♭3 3 5 6
1 2 ♭3 3 5 6: major pentatonic plus the ♭3. The same six notes as the minor blues a minor third below: C major blues and A blues are identical.
Same six notes
E Blues
One note away
Two more are in the first group: Minor (no 6) is the minor pentatonic plus the 2nd, and Major (no 4) is the major pentatonic plus the 7th.
Two identical halves. The pattern repeats inside the octave.
1 2 3 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7
No perfect fifth anywhere. Only two distinct transpositions exist.
Same six notes
A Whole tone · B Whole tone · D♭ Whole tone · E♭ Whole tone · F Whole tone
One note away
1 ♭3 3 5 ♭6 7
Two augmented triads a semitone apart. It holds three major and three minor triads, and no dominant 7th at all, which is why it behaves as a tonic-major colour.
Same six notes
B Augmented · E♭ Augmented
One note away
Pick any notes you like.
Choose any six notes and Practice spells them, finds the chords inside them and counts the bars, exactly as it does for the named scales.
Build your ownOther sounds worth knowing, for reference.
6 notes · mystic
Scriabin's synthetic harmony. 'Mystic chord' was coined by Arthur Eaglefield Hull in 1916; Scriabin never used the term.
5 notes · koto
A koto tuning, and the sound many Western ears file under 'Japanese'. Its naming is contested: several definitions circulate, differing by rotation. This is the form built on the tuning's own first degree.
5 notes · sombre
The semitone above the tonic gives it its weight. Darker than hirajoshi because it has no third at all.
5 notes · stark
A rotation of hirajoshi, started on its second note: two semitones and a tritone in five notes.
5 notes · wistful
Hirajoshi with a natural 6th instead of a ♭6. One note apart, and much brighter for it.
5 notes · folk
No semitones at all. It is the same set as the minor pentatonic, rotated, which is why it sounds familiar before you can place it.
7 notes · fiery
The augmented second between ♭2 and 3 is the whole sound. On a piano it is close to the Phrygian dominant of flamenco and the Freygish of klezmer; maqam practice tunes Hijaz differently, and its upper half varies.