🎹 Scale & Mode Finder
Choose a root and a scale or mode to see its notes spelled correctly, with the scale-degree intervals — the jazz-relevant scales from Dorian and Mixolydian to blues and bebop dominant, all in one place.
🎹 C Dorian
Notes: C – D – Eb – F – G – A – Bb
Intervals: 1 · 2 · b3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · b7
Learn the sound, not just the notes
Seeing a scale spelled properly, next to its intervals, connects the shape under your fingers to the theory on the page. Compare C Dorian with C Mixolydian and the single changed note tells you why one sounds minor and the other dominant.
Once a scale is in your ear, build harmony from it with the Jazz Chord Progression Generator and place it on the map with the Circle of Fifths Explorer.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a scale and a mode?
A mode is a scale built by starting the major scale on a different degree, giving seven flavours: Ionian (the major scale), Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian (the natural minor) and Locrian. They use the same seven notes as their parent major scale but each has its own root, so its own pattern of whole and half steps and its own character.
Which scales matter most in jazz?
Dorian and Mixolydian are everywhere — Dorian over minor chords and Mixolydian over dominants. The bebop dominant scale adds a passing note to Mixolydian so eighth-note lines land chord tones on the beat, and the blues scale colours almost every style. The harmonic and melodic minors supply the tensions over minor-key ii–V–i progressions.
How are the notes spelled correctly?
The finder advances one letter name per scale degree and then adds the sharp or flat needed to reach the right pitch, so C Dorian comes out as C D E♭ F G A B♭ rather than C D D♯ F G A A♯. That matching of letters to degrees is what makes a scale readable on the staff.
What do the interval numbers mean?
Each note is labelled by its scale degree relative to the major scale: 1 is the root, and a flat or sharp shows an altered degree. C Dorian reads 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7 — the flat third and flat seventh are exactly what give Dorian its warm minor sound.