1.5 · Chromatic Notes

The chromatic scale

Start at any key on the piano and play every single key in order until you reach the same note again. That's the chromatic scale. It has twelve semitone steps.

Twelve equal steps

Every note gets played once. Tap any key to start the climb from there.

A loop, not a line

Because step twelve lands on the same letter, the chromatic scale is a circle. Tap any note to run the scale from there.

CC♯DD♯EFF♯GG♯AA♯BCHROMAnote · color

Same twelve notes, two layouts

A piano lines the twelve notes up in one long row, left to right. That's why theory is usually drawn on a keyboard. A guitar walks the same loop on each of its six strings: every fret is one semitone, and twelve frets up any string is an octave.

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Every dot is one semitone from its neighbor, so the whole neck is the chromatic scale. Notice the same note lives in more than one place. Tap any dot to hear it.

Game · Sing a semitone

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Sing the C, then one semitone up: C♯.

The smallest step, sung: match a note, then move your voice up by just one key.

C C♯ · semitone up

Quiz

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How many semitones fit in one octave?

Every note

That's every note. Nearly all of Western music is built from these twelve.

Score 100% on every quiz and game to complete this lesson. A perfect run sticks: a later miss never undoes it.Whole & half steps →