Enter a few notes and this free scale finder shows every scale that contains them. Tap the piano keys or note buttons, type notes such as C E G B or chords such as Am F C G, or sing and play the notes into your microphone. Exact matches come first, then the scales with the fewest extra notes, each with correctly spelled note names, its formula, key signature and chords.
Scale Finder
Tap, type, play or sing your notes. Every scale that contains them appears below.
Octaves don’t matter. Try C E G B · F# A C# · Bb D F, or switch to Chords: Am F C G.
Add notes to see every scale that contains them.
Try an example:
Close matches
Everything runs in your browser. The microphone is used only while you press “Sing or play notes”, and nothing is recorded or uploaded.
Related Tools
- Song Key Finder
Upload a song to find its key from the audio.
- Chord Progression Finder
Enter chords to get the key and Roman numerals.
- Chord Progression Analyzer
See the function of every chord in a progression.
- Note Finder
Name any note you sing or play, live.
- Interval Ear Training
Learn to hear the steps that build every scale.
- Pitch Detector
Live pitch of your voice or instrument in Hz and notes.
How to Find a Scale From Notes
- Enter your notes. Tap the piano or the note buttons, or type them (C#, Db, F sharp and E-flat all work). Octaves don’t matter.
- Read the ranked list. “Exact match” means the scale has exactly your notes. “+2 notes: D A” means the scale contains all of yours plus D and A.
- Narrow it down. Set Root to the note that sounds like home, or to “First note I entered”. Switch to Common to hide rare and exotic scales.
- Open a result. You get the notes with scale degrees, formula, whole and half steps, key signature, relative and parallel keys and the chords of the scale. Press Play scale to hear it or Show on guitar for the fretboard.
- Share it with “Copy link to these notes”.
What Scale Is This? Why Several Scales Match
A set of notes does not always point to one scale. The seven white keys, for example, are C major, but also A natural minor and the modes D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian and B Locrian. The notes are identical; only the home note (the root or tonic) changes. So the finder lists every match and ranks them: exact matches first, common scales before rare ones, and roots you actually played first.
| Notes you enter | Best matches | Why |
|---|---|---|
| C D E F G A B | C major, A natural minor, D Dorian … B Locrian | Same seven notes, different home note |
| A C D E G | A minor pentatonic, C major pentatonic | The five notes of the pentatonic scale |
| C D E♭ F G A♭ B | C harmonic minor | The raised 7th (B) over a minor scale |
| A C D E♭ E G | A blues | Minor pentatonic plus the “blue note” E♭ |
| C E G | C major pentatonic, then 91 more | Three notes fit many scales: add more |
If no scale contains every note, close matches shows scales that miss only one of them, handy for melodies with a passing note.
What Key Are These Notes In?
Switch the view to Keys to rank all 24 major and minor keys for your notes. Keys that contain every note come first; among them, the key whose tonic chord (C E G in C major) you played wins, then the key of your first or last note. Minor keys also accept their raised 6th and 7th, so A B C D E F G♯ is correctly read as A minor with the G♯ of the harmonic minor. The line “Most likely key” above the results gives the same answer in every view.
To find the key of a whole recording rather than a few notes, use the Song Key Finder in Related Tools above: it listens to the audio. For a step-by-step method by ear, read how to find the key of a song.
Find the Scale by Sound: Sing or Play
Press Sing or play notes and sing, hum, whistle or play one note at a time. Hold each note for about half a second until the bar fills; the note is added to your selection and the results update straight away, so you can sing a phrase and watch the list narrow down. It reads one note at a time, not chords or full songs, and ignores steady background noise.
Have a recording instead? The audio file pitch detector lists every note of a melody in an MP3 or WAV file; type those notes here. Exact note frequencies are in the musical note frequency chart.
Find the Scale From Chords
Choose Chords and type chord names such as Am F C G, Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 or E7 Am Dm. Major, minor, 7th, maj7, m7, m7♭5, dim, dim7, aug, sus2, sus4, 6, 9, add9 and slash chords are understood. The finder collects the notes of all the chords and shows the scales and keys that hold them: the notes to improvise with over that progression.
The other way round, every seven-note scale lists its triads and seventh chords with Roman numerals. Press a chord to hear it.
Scale Formulas: the Scales It Knows
The finder checks 43 scale types on all 12 roots. The most used ones and how they are built:
| Scale | Formula | Steps (W = whole, H = half) |
|---|---|---|
| Major (Ionian) | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | W W H W W W H |
| Natural minor (Aeolian) | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 | W H W W H W W |
| Harmonic minor | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 7 | W H W W H W+H H |
| Melodic minor | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 7 | W H W W W W H |
| Dorian | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7 | W H W W W H W |
| Phrygian | 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 | H W W W H W W |
| Lydian | 1 2 3 ♯4 5 6 7 | W W W H W W H |
| Mixolydian | 1 2 3 4 5 6 ♭7 | W W H W W H W |
| Locrian | 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 ♭5 ♭6 ♭7 | H W W H W W W |
| Major pentatonic | 1 2 3 5 6 | W W W+H W W+H |
| Minor pentatonic | 1 ♭3 4 5 ♭7 | W+H W W W+H W |
| Blues | 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7 | W+H W H H W+H W |
It also knows the whole tone, diminished and augmented scales, bebop scales, Phrygian and Lydian dominant, the altered scale, harmonic major, Hungarian, Neapolitan and double harmonic scales and Japanese pentatonics such as Hirajoshi. What each family sounds like and where it is used is explained in all types of music scales.
Why B♭ and not A♯?
A scale uses each letter once, so F major is F G A B♭ C D E, never A♯. The finder spells every result that way, picks the simpler key when two spellings exist (D♭ major instead of C♯ major) and shows the key signature, so the names match what you see in sheet music.
Scales on Piano and Guitar
On the keyboard your notes are purple, the other notes of the open scale blue with degree numbers, and the root is outlined. Show on guitar draws the scale on a fretboard in standard tuning from the open strings to the 12th fret, roots in purple. New to the fretboard? The guitar notes chart names every fret, and bass players can continue with the bass guitar scales chart.
How to Find a Scale by Hand
- Write down the different notes of the melody or riff, ignoring octaves.
- Find the note that sounds like home: melodies often start or end on it.
- Count the half steps from that note to each other note and write them as degrees (3 half steps = ♭3, 4 = 3, 7 = 5…).
- Compare the degrees with the formulas in the table above; ♭3 means a minor-type scale, 3 a major-type one.
Hearing the home note and the size of each step gets easier with practice: the ear training guide shows a simple daily routine.
Frequently Asked Questions
What scale contains these notes?
Enter the notes above. Every scale that contains all of them is listed, exact matches first, then the scales that add the fewest notes.
How many notes do I need?
Two notes give results; five to seven leave only a handful of scales.
What is the difference between a scale and a key?
A scale is a set of notes in order. A key is a scale plus a home note and the chords built on it; C major and A minor share one set of notes but are different keys.
Does the microphone mode hear chords?
No, sing or play single notes one after another. To enter chords, type their names in Chords mode.