Diatonic scale facts for kids

Diatonic scale on C, showing equal tempered and just tuning.

Pythagorean diatonic scale on C. The plus sign (+) shows a syntonic comma.

The modern piano keyboard uses the patterns of the diatonic scale. Seven white keys in a row make a diatonic scale.

The diatonic scale is a very common type of musical scale. You hear it in many songs! It's also known as a heptatonic scale because it uses seven different musical notes or tones.

Think of an octave on a piano. A diatonic scale within that octave has five "whole steps" and two "half steps." A whole step is like moving from C to D on a piano. A half step is like moving from E to F, or B to C. The two half steps in a diatonic scale are always separated by either two or three whole steps.

The word "diatonic" comes from the Greek word diatonikos. This means "progressing through tones." It describes how the notes move up or down the scale.

How Diatonic Scales Are Built

You can create the seven notes of any diatonic scale using a series of six perfect fifths. A perfect fifth is a musical interval that sounds very stable. For example, C to G is a perfect fifth.

Let's look at the C-major scale, which uses all the "natural" notes (white keys on a piano). You can build these notes by stacking perfect fifths, starting from F:

• F—C—G—D—A—E—B

This way of building scales is called Pythagorean tuning. It was very important in history. Musicians could easily tune their instruments by ear using this method. This helped diatonic scales spread all over the world.

Diatonic Scales on a Piano

If you play any seven white keys in a row on a piano, like C-D-E-F-G-A-B, you are playing a diatonic scale. Piano keyboards are designed around these natural notes. This makes it easy to play diatonic scales.

You can also think of a diatonic scale as two groups of four notes, called tetrachords. These two groups are separated by a whole tone (a whole step).

Types of Diatonic Scales

Many well-known scales are diatonic. These include:

• Modes: These are different versions of scales that create different moods. They were often used in Church music.
• Major scales and minor scales: These are the most common scales in Western music. You hear them in almost every song!
• The altered scale: This scale is often used in Jazz music to create unique sounds.
• The harmonic minor and melodic minor scales: These are variations of the minor scale, each with a slightly different sound.

Some scales are not diatonic. For example, whole-tone scales only use whole steps. Also, gypsy scales, often heard in folk music, are not diatonic.