Read the scale

Seven notes climbing one position at a time, starting on the root. Every letter is used once, so the shape is always the same even staircase — line, space, line, space.

The letters therefore tell you nothing about which scale it is. The accidentals do. Read the root first, then look at what is sharpened or flattened along the way.

A major scale climbs with no surprises from its root. A natural minor has a flattened 3rd, 6th and 7th relative to the major on the same root.

same staircase every time · the accidentals name the scale

A, B, C, D, E, F, G: A natural minor, with nothing altered.

Practise this in the trainer — it opens with this lesson the first time the concept comes up.