The chromatic scale
You'll learn how to spell a chromatic scale correctly, going up and coming down, in a major or a minor key.
The chromatic scale is made up entirely of half steps, or semitones in British English, both diatonic and chromatic.
Any major or minor scale can be turned into a chromatic scale. You simply sound the in-between tone between every two degrees that lie a whole step apart. This in-between tone, called the chromatic note, implies no modulation at all: you stay in the key.
The spelling rule going up
In both major and minor, you generally use a raising accidental to move to the next higher note: a sharp after a natural note, or a natural after a flatted note. There is one exception, the 6th degree of the major scale. Raising it would belong to a key that is too distant, so instead you write the lowered 7th degree.
The spelling rule going down
In major, you use a lowering accidental to move to the next lower note: a flat after a natural note, or a natural after a sharped note. This time the exception is the 5th degree. Lowering it would belong to a key that is too distant, so instead you write the raised 4th degree.
In minor
Going up, the minor chromatic scale follows the same rule, with raising accidentals. Going down, it is spelled like the descending chromatic scale of the major key on the same tonic.
What the chromatic scale is made of
- It contains twelve half steps, seven diatonic and five chromatic. In C major going up, C to C# is chromatic, C# to D is diatonic, D to D# is chromatic, D# to E is diatonic, E to F is diatonic, and so on.
- Since every major or minor scale can be transformed this way, there are chromatic scales in every key.
The free spelling found in instrumental methods
Some methods, especially for instruments tuned in equal temperament like the piano, write the chromatic scale without regard to these rules: they use sharps or flats indiscriminately, going up as well as down. Since enharmonic notes such as C# and D♭ are played on the same key, the listener hears no difference. Most methods for instruments that are not fixed in temperament, such as the violin, keep the tonal spelling instead.
When writing out whole chromatic scales, double sharps and double flats are often avoided.
Danhauser's rule: go up with raising accidentals, except between degrees 6 and 7 (lower the 7th); come down with lowering accidentals, except when leaving degree 5 (raise the 4th).
Turn the scales of D major, G minor, A major, E major, C minor and F# minor into chromatic scales (ascending and descending).
The chromatic scale has shown you that two names can share one sound. In the next lesson, you'll see what that means for whole keys.