Scales, and the chords inside them

Play a scale one note at a time with its notes marked on the keys, then drill the triads and seventh chords of the same key.

One note at a time

Pick a key and a scale and PianoKitty asks for it note by note. The row above the question shows the whole scale with your current note marked, so you can see what you have played and what comes next.

There are 23 scales, each in every key: major and the three minors, the church modes, the blues and bebop scales, and the chromatic scale.

The practice screen walking C minor note by note, with the scale notes tinted on the keyboard. — C natural minor, in order. The tinted keys are the scale, and the orange key is the note the app is asking for.

The scale, drawn on the keyboard

Scale highlighting marks every note of the key on the keyboard, either as tinted keys or as dots under them, whichever distracts you less. Seeing the scale under your hands makes its shape easier to remember.

The keyboard with dots marking the notes of the scale. — Dots show the same notes as the tint, with less color on the keyboard.

You can also show fingering: the numbers 1 to 5 over the keys, following the standard fingering for the scale. Fingering is hard to work out on your own, so it helps to have it in front of you.

The keyboard with fingering numbers over the keys. — Fingerings on the keys, so the thumb goes under in the right place.

The chords of the key

Switch the voicing from single notes to triads, sevenths or ninths, and the app asks for the chords built on each degree of the same scale, in order. Together they make up the harmony of the key.

The question can name them as chords (C, Dm, Em…), as Roman numerals (I, ii, iii…), as numerals with quality marks, as plain numbers, or by function (tonic, dominant, subdominant).

The practice screen asking for the first degree of C minor as a Roman numeral, with the chord row above. — The triads of C minor, asked as numerals. The row above spells them out: Cm, D dim, E♭, Fm, Gm, A♭, B♭.

The same drill with seventh chords. — The same degrees as seventh chords, which give the key a jazzier sound.

How it runs

Choose the tonic, the scale, the voicing and how the question is worded. Then choose how the scale moves: straight up, up and down, up and down with the top note played only once, or into a new key on each pass, around the circle of fifths or chromatically.

The sequence setting: in order, up and down, around the circle of fifths, chromatic. — Stay in one key or go through all twelve.

You can also require several flawless loops before a scale counts as done, and choose whether the top note is played once or twice where the scale turns around.

The scales section of the Preferences page. — All the scale settings sit in one section of Preferences.

On a phone too

Scale practice on a phone. — The scale row, the current note and the keyboard all fit on a phone screen.

Try a drill

C minor, note by note The scale in order, drawn on the keys. Try it →A harmonic minor, up and down The minor scale with a raised seventh, turning around at the top. Try it →The triads of the key i, ii°, III… in C minor, asked as numerals. Try it →Sevenths of every key Four-note chords on every degree, moving round the circle of fifths. Try it →

All the features