Interactive Piano Reference to All Major & Minor Scales

💫🎹 Here's a visual & interactive chart for all the major and natural minor scales, their notes/pitches, layout on the piano keyboard, chords in the key of, and their relative minor or major. Use the banner at the bottom to jump to the different major or minor scales.

Major and natural minor scales are known as diatonic scales, as they are 7-note scales (aka heptatonic scales) formed with 5 whole steps and 2 half steps per octave and the half steps are distance by either 2 or 3 whole steps from one another.

In Western music major and minor scales are the two most popular types of scales. In fact most scales are really derived from the major scale, including the natural minor scale.

You might also like this music theory cheat sheet.

All Major Scales

Major scale formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Major scale steps: Whole Whole Half Whole Whole Whole Half

Below is a chart of major scales, with keys in order of 5ths, as with the circle of fifths. This illustrates that there's just one note difference (at the 7th scale degree) between scales formed from keys that are separated by a fifth. Hit play on any scale to play its pitches up and down:

	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	vii°	I
	C	D	E	F	G	A	B	C
	G	A	B	C	D	E	F♯	G
	D	E	F♯	G	A	B	C♯	D
	A	B	C♯	D	E	F♯	G♯	A
	E	F♯	G♯	A	B	C♯	D♯	E
	B	C♯	D♯	E	F♯	G♯	A♯	B
	F♯	G♯	A♯	B	C♯	D♯	E♯	F♯
	D♭	E♭	F	G♭	A♭	B♭	C	D♭
	A♭	B♭	C	D♭	E♭	F	G	A♭
	E♭	F	G	A♭	B♭	C	D	E♭
	B♭	C	D	E♭	F	G	A	B♭
	F	G	A	B♭	C	D	E	F

Major scales on piano

And now for each of the major scales in more detail on the piano. Tip: click the lock icon to trigger the chords of that scale using keys 1 through 7 on your keyboard.

C Major Scale

notes: C D E F G A B

relative minor: A minor

• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• A
• B
• C

chords in the key of C major

Cmaj Dmin Emin Fmaj Gmaj Amin Bdim

→ full C major scale piano reference

D Major Scale

notes: D E F^♯ G A B C^♯

relative minor: B minor

• D
• E
• F^♯
• G
• A
• B
• C^♯
• D

chords in the key of D major

Dmaj Emin F#min Gmaj Amaj Bmin C#dim

→ full D major scale piano reference

E Major Scale

notes: E F^♯ G^♯ A B C^♯ D^♯

relative minor: C♯ minor

• E
• F^♯
• G^♯
• A
• B
• C^♯
• D^♯
• E

chords in the key of E major

Emaj F#min G#min Amaj Bmaj C#min D#dim

→ full E major scale piano reference

F Major Scale

notes: F G A B_♭ C D E

relative minor: D minor

• F
• G
• A
• B_♭
• C
• D
• E
• F

chords in the key of F major

Fmaj Gmin Amin Bbmaj Cmaj Dmin Edim

→ full F major scale piano reference

G Major Scale

notes: G A B C D E F^♯

relative minor: E minor

• G
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F^♯
• G

chords in the key of G major

Gmaj Amin Bmin Cmaj Dmaj Emin F#dim

→ full G major scale piano reference

A Major Scale

notes: A B C^♯ D E F^♯ G^♯

relative minor: F♯ minor

• A
• B
• C^♯
• D
• E
• F^♯
• G^♯
• A

chords in the key of A major

Amaj Bmin C#min Dmaj Emaj F#min G#dim

→ full A major scale piano reference

B Major Scale / C♭ Major Scale

notes: B C^♯ D^♯ E F^♯ G^♯ A^♯

C_♭ Major: C_♭ D_♭ E_♭ F_♭ G_♭ A_♭ B_♭

relative minor: G♯ minor

• B
• C^♯
• D^♯
• E
• F^♯
• G^♯
• A^♯
• B

chords in the key of B major

Bmaj C#min D#min Emaj F#maj G#min A#dim

→ full B major scale reference → full C_♭ major scale reference

D♭ / C♯ Major Scale

D_♭ Major: D_♭ E_♭ F G_♭ A_♭ B_♭ C

C^♯ Major: C^♯ D^♯ E^♯ F^♯ G^♯ A^♯ B^♯

relative minor: A♯ / B♭ minor

• D_♭
• E_♭
• F
• G_♭
• A_♭
• B_♭
• C
• D_♭

chords in the key of D_♭ major

Dbmaj Ebmin Fmin Gbmaj Abmaj Bbmin Cdim

→ full D♭ major scale reference → full C^♯ major scale reference

E♭ / D♯ Major Scale

E_♭ Major: E_♭ F G A_♭ B_♭ C D

D^♯ Major: D^♯ E^♯ F^♯♯ G^♯ A^♯ B^♯ C^♯♯

relative minor: C minor

• E_♭
• F
• G
• A_♭
• B_♭
• C
• D
• E_♭

chords in the key of E_♭ major

Ebmaj Fmin Gmin Abmaj Bbmaj Cmin Ddmin

→ full E flat major scale piano reference

G♭ / F♯ Major Scale

G_♭ Major: G_♭ A_♭ B_♭ C_♭ D_♭ E_♭ F

F^♯ Major: F^♯ G^♯ A^♯ B C^♯ D^♯ E^♯

relative minor: D♯ / E♭ minor

• G_♭
• A_♭
• B_♭
• C_♭
• D_♭
• E_♭
• F
• G_♭

chords in the key of G_♭ major

Gbmaj Abmin Bbmin Cbmaj Dbmaj Ebmin Fdim

→ full G_♭ major scale reference → full F^♯ major scale reference

A♭ / G♯ Major Scale

A_♭ Major: A_♭ B_♭ C D_♭ E_♭ F G

G^♯ Major: G^♯ A^♯ B^♯ C^♯ D^♯ E^♯ F^♯♯

relative minor: F minor

• A_♭
• B_♭
• C
• D_♭
• E_♭
• F
• G
• A_♭

chords in the key of A_♭ major

Abmaj Bbmin Cmin Dbmaj Ebmaj Fmin Gdim

→ full A flat major scale piano reference

B♭ / A♯ Major Scale

B_♭ Major: B_♭ C D E_♭ F G A

A^♯ Major: A^♯ B^♯ C^♯♯ D^♯ E^♯ F^♯♯ G^♯♯

relative minor: G minor

• B_♭
• C
• D
• E_♭
• F
• G
• A
• B_♭

chords in the key of B_♭ major

Bbmaj Cmin Dmin Ebmaj Fmaj Gmin Adim

→ full B flat major scale piano reference

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All Natural Minor Scales

Minor scale formula: 1 2 _♭3 4 5 _♭6 _♭7
Minor scale steps: Whole Half Whole Whole Half Whole Whole

The following represents the natural minor scales, which is the default when we refer to minor scales.

As with the major scales, let's start with a chart of minor scales, with keys in order of 5ths. With minor scales, the note that differs between scales that have their keys separated by a 5th is at the 2nd scale degree. Hit play on any scale to play its pitches up and down:

	i	ii°	III	iv	v	VI	VII	i
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	A
	E	F♯	G	A	B	C	D	E
	B	C♯	D	E	F♯	G	A	B
	F♯	G♯	A	B	C♯	D	E	F♯
	C♯	D♯	E	F♯	G♯	A	B	C♯
	G♯	A♯	B	C♯	D♯	E	F♯	G♯
	D♯	E♯	F♯	G♯	A♯	B	C♯	D♯
	B♭	C	D♭	E♭	F	G♭	A♭	B♭
	F	G	A♭	B♭	C	D♭	E♭	F
	C	D	E♭	F	G	A♭	B♭	C
	G	A	B♭	C	D	E♭	F	G
	D	E	F	G	A	B♭	C	D

Minor scales on piano

And now each of the natural minor scales in more detail on the piano. The full reference for each of the minor scales also includes the harmonic and melodic minors, and you can also reference the harmonic minor scale here and the melodic minor scale here. Again, you can lock the chords and use keys 1-7 on your keyboard to trigger them.

Piano Samples

The piano samples used for this piano scale reference are from “Salamander Grand Piano V3” by Alexander Holm, licensed under CC BY 3.0.