Mode Selector

Usage
Summary: Choose the base scale from the labeled tabs along the top, the default is the diatonic major scale. Click on the scale name in the first column of the table to choose a specific mode within the base scale. Similarly use the third column roman numeral to choose a fingering position within the selected scale. The switches and buttons around the fretboard can be set to provide various display options and string tunings.

table:
Use the table below the fretboard diagram to pick the mode to be displayed within the current base mode.

• scale - the scale name of each mode of the current base scale. Click to choose it as the mode within the base scale to display. The entire row will have a border placed around it to indicate it is selected (note that the selection box may not appear smooth in browsers other than Firefox).
• color - the color for the note markers. Click on the color cell to bring up a color picker to change the color of that scale degree.
• pos/step - the roman numeral notation of the absolute step for the current base scale step/degree in relation to the diatonic major scale. Click this cell when one of the hand positions are selected (see display button section below) to choose the starting note for the hand position. The cell will have a blue inner border to indicate it is the one chosen.
• tetrad - the four note chord (7th chord) in roman numeral notation of the chord built from each scale degree in the selected mode. Note that the 7ths are only listed (in superscript) if they differ from the base major (capitalized numeral) or minor (lower case numeral) chord. Otherwise half of the chords could be confused with dominant 7th chords.
• degree - the scale degree of each note in arabic numerals.
• note - the letter note for each scale degree, as determined by the root note and the tonic.
• interval - the abbreviation for the interval of each scale degree from the chosen tonic.
• interval name - the full name for the interval of each scale degree from the chosen tonic.
• alternate scale name(s) - other names in common usage for the particular scale mode.

buttons:

• root note - selects the root note for the current mode, this affects the tonic.
• flat/sharp - sets all note names to display as either sharps (red) or flats (blue).
• tonic show/hide - marked with the "T", selects if the tonics will be highlighted on the fretboard diagram or not.
• arpeggio show/hide - marked with the "A", this is similar to the tonic (T) button. It highlights the third, fifth and seventh scale degrees with green, red and purple circles respectively on the fretboard diagram.
• left/right - marked with "H", will flip the fretboard and contents for a left or right handed view.
• display buttons - operate on the fretboard diagram to populate and highlight specific note markers. The currently selected display button is marked in blue which matches the blue border on the "pos/step" column cell which determines the starting position of the hand position within the selected scale mode. Click the "pos/step" column to choose the starting position and one of the buttons in this set to choose the type of position or no position at all. Note that these hand positions are most useful when the tuning is set to a standard tuning like E-standard or C#-standard.
• all - all the notes of the scale mode are displayed, there is no specific hand position.
• three - three notes per string are displayed as part of the position. Actually two notes per string for pentatonic scales. Basically a fixed number of notes per string.
• fixed - the hand position remains stationary and does not shift across the fretboard. The thumb can remain in place without moving, and when in a standard tuning the top and bottom strings should have the same notes as part of the pattern. Basically a fixed hand position.
• custom - a custom algorithm which favors shifts to the right when the note density on a string is high, such as when there are four scale notes in a five fret span. It will often produce different patterns than the three note per string, and fixed position options but not always.
• none - clears the fretboard diagram of all markers.
• flat/natural 5th - marked with the "5" and in the upper right corner of the page above the fretboard, this special button modifies the current base scale by lowering the fifth one semi-tone, and restores it to the original perfect fifth (P5) when pressed again. Flattening the fifth of the base scale produces a new and unique set of modes for all eight supported heptatonic base scales. The behavior is different for the pentatonic major base scale however, in this case the button adds or removes a lowered fifth to the pentatonic minor scale to produce the popular blues scale and its (now hexatonic) modes. Regardless of the base scale this button has a large impact and affects many of the table columns and rows. If things on the page look "wrong" with the displayed scale(s), check the position of this switch button!

tuning:
String tuning is adjusted via the selection boxes to the left of the fretboard diagram. Each string can be tuned to a specific note via a dropdown menu selection. The rounded buttons at the top and bottom of the tuning section raise or lower all strings by one semitone. With these controls any tuning can be dialed in with just a few clicks.

fretboard markers:
When the fretboard diagram is filled with note markers you can click anywhere in the diagram to cycle through the display of different types of note information in the markers. In order they are: note letter name (default), scale degree, interval name, and blank (no text info).

About
The first five base scales in the upper tabs are the five prime scales since these are the most common base scales for western music. Although there are a few similar tools and programs available, none of them had the organization and features that I most wanted, so I created this web-app and decided to share. The aim is to reinforce the relationships between the base scales and their modes, and also between the base scales themselves to foster an understanding of how the musical elements fit together.

The eight heptatonic base scales in the upper tabs are the main heptatonic base scales used in western music. You may notice that some information is presented differently than other music theory sources. One notable difference is that the "abs step" column presents an absolute step number. It remains fixed for all the modes of a base scale and the roman numeral numbering is always relative to the major (ionian) base scale regardless of the displayed base scale. For example, the melodic and harmonic minor base scales start at VI since they are derived from the natural minor scale which is step VI (aka degree VI) of the ionian (major) scale. Similarly the double harmonic major scale is created by making the phrygian dominant scale harmonic (raising its seventh degree), so it retains the step value of III. I find this is more instructive than re-numbering each base scale from I as it uses a common foundation to indicate an important relationship between base scales.

If you have comments, can supply verifiable scale names, feature requests, want to see specific scales added, encounter issues, or find errors you can email: seandavidscott at-symbol gmail dot com

If you use the site contributions (via paypal) of any size are greatly appreciated. When you donate, be sure to include a message to say which future features you would most like to see, either from the list below or custom, to ensure the features that are important to you will be done first. Thanks so much!

Ongoing and Future Feature List:
This list keeps track of the features that have been delivered and those we would like to add to this site, each is listed with a level of difficulty, and the amount of work expected to implement it:

• DELIVERED v0.81 change the interval names to be consistent within the scale, so there are never two "fifths" or two "sixths" listed and the interval is correct with respect to standard music theory. Applicable to the diatonic and heptatonic scales and their derivatives only. (difficulty: medium, amount: small)
• DELIVERED v0.91 add modifiers to the absolute "abs step" roman numeral column to indicate how each step relates to its major scale equivalent. A flat is prepended to indicate a lowered step, and "+" is prepended for a raised/augmented step. This should make the differences between the base scales clearer. (difficulty: medium, amount: small)
• DELIVERED v0.93 Lefties rejoice! Left-handed/reverse support. Flip the fretboard diagram for left handed players via a toggle button. (difficulty: easy, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v0.96 alternate tuning support. Provided a dropdown beside each string of the fretboard diagram to select that string's open note. Also have buttons above and below to alter all strings by one semitone per click. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v0.97 add the Neapolitan major scale and its modes. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v0.98 add the Neapolitan minor scale and its modes. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v0.99 include a color picker so users can choose custom colors for the modes and note markers. Click the color cell in the table to modify the specific mode markers. (difficulty: easy, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v1.01 add another column after the "step" column(s) that displays in roman numeral notation the relative tetrad for each step of the chosen scale mode (four note 7th chord). So lowercase for minor, superscript for altered degrees, the small degree symbol for diminished, etc. This enhances the relationships between the scales and their underlying chords for progressions. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v1.03 provide a button to highlight the 4 note arpeggios of the chosen mode. The tonics are already highlighted with a "halo" in white, this adds differently colored "halos" for the third, fifth, and seventh scale degrees in green, red and purple respectively. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v1.04 add the ionian flat-2 base scale and its modes. The circle of eight base scales (Hamiltonian cycle) is now complete. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v1.07 add a button to lower/flatten the fifth of the current base scale. For the eight supported heptatonic base scales, this produces a unique set of base scales and modes for each which doubles the total number of provided heptatonic scales. This brings the total number of scales the site supports to (8 * 2 * 7 + 5) = 117. This button can be thought of as an "evilizer" since the flat fifth is the "demonic" tritone of the base scale. The default for this setting is of course the natural/perfect fifth (P5), but if things look "wrong" then check the position of this button, it may be in the lowered position. (difficulty: medium, amount: large)
• DELIVERED v1.09 allow the flat-fifth button to operate on the pentatonic major base scale (see the above feature for 1.07 for details on the flat-fifth button). Instead of altering the fifth as it does for heptatonic scales, when used on the pentatonic base scale it adds a flat-fifth (tritone) to the pentatonic minor scale to produce the popular hexatonic blues scale. This feature adds six to the total number of scales supported by the site: (8 * 2 * 7 + 5 + 6) = 123. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v1.10 fixed some display issues with the Chrome browser. This site is developed on Firefox and some of the newer display elements were being blocked on Chrome. It is still recommended to use Firefox, but Microsoft Edge works acceptably (a few minor display inconsistencies), and Chrome is supported except that the row select bounding boxes in the table are jagged on Chrome. (difficulty: easy, amount: small)
• DELIVERED v1.11 provide specific finger position layouts for the selected scale. This one is interesting especially if/when it moves beyond simple three/four note per string patterns and includes custom patterns that players actually use, and those taught as part of a known framework such as the Berklee method. Added three types of pattern algorithm as described in the usage section. By using a combination of the three, optimal patterns can be found for any of the base scales. The positon numbering is based on the scale degree in relation to the diatonic major scale to allow simple comparisons between the base scales. (difficulty: hard, amount: large)
• DELIVERED v1.12 changed the flat-5th button to not cache its value, so a browser page refresh will return the setting to a natural (perfect) fifth. Also added the melodic minor augmented 5th scale name to the harmonic minor flat-5th alternate scale name(s) list. (difficulty: easy, amount: small)
• DELIVERED v1.13 minor changes to remove the arpeggio highlighting from scales with more than eight notes, and those with fewer than seven. Added checking so the flat-5th button will have no effect on scales with eight or more notes. Added new behavior to the hand position button so the fixed number of notes per string will change depending on the number of notes in the base scale. For example pentatonic scales will use two notes per string (and the button text will display "two"), while hexatonic and heptatonic scales (which are the majority in this tool and Western music) will use three notes per string. Similarly scales with more than eight notes will display four notes per string. (difficulty: easy, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v1.14 refactored the site's scale data to be supplied in JSON files that are be pulled in dynamically and parsed by the JS program on demand. This provides better data handling for the fixed/static data and moves it out of the source code which allows quicker and modular change support for new and different scales. It improves the scalability since only the currently viewed scale needs to be loaded at any one time, though for a site like this with a small number of data sets (supported base scales) this is of limited tangible benefit. (difficulty: easy, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v1.15 minor changes to the source code to allow function re-use and feature separation for them to be called from different html files. This allows separate pages dedicated to keyboard or other instruments to be developed using the same engine. (difficulty: easy, amount: medium)
• DELIVERED v1.16 added a "four" button for the guitar positions, this defaults to four notes per string for hexatonic and heptatonic scales, and three notes per string for pentatonic scales. Also cleaned up some scale naming regarding sharp vs. natural scale degrees so the names are all based on the major scale which is the standard notation. (difficulty: easy, amount: medium)
• add the bebop eight-note scales and modes. The difficulty is that the most used/usable bebop scales are not modes of each other. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• add symmetrical and other non-modal scales. Such as whole-tone, 4-note diminished (is an arpeggio really), 8-note diminished, major augmented, two-semitone tritone (Messiaen mode 5), Messiaen mode 4, chromatic, etc. The main issue here is that the page would need some sort of menu to select these scales, or a second row of base scale tabs added which clutters the interface. (difficulty: medium, amount: large)
• provide a number of fretboard looks/options. Such as maple, ebony, high-contrast, different inlays, etc. (difficulty: easy, amount: large)
• provide an extended 24 fret diagram and a 12/24 toggle button. Issue here is that the layout of the page must change radically. (difficulty: easy, amount: large)
• test site more deeply on browsers other than Firefox, for computer, tablet, and various mobile devices. Provide a compatibility table for the most popular browsers: Chrome, Safari, IE (will never support), Firefox, Edge, and even Duck Duck Go. So far most browsers other than FireFox don't display the table row highlighting cleanly. (difficulty: easy, amount: if few issues: medium, if issues: possibly large)
• add support for site cookies so user specified settings (like custom colors) will persist. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium-large)
• support for variable numbers of instrument strings. From 4 or 5 strings for bass and violin to 7, 8, or 9 strings for special guitars and mandolins. (difficulty: medium, amount: large)
• after the variable number of strings and custom tunings are available, have templates for other instruments like banjo, ukulele, mandolin, etc. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• after the variable number of strings and custom tunings are available, provide a fretless version of diagram (place fret small markers below the fretboard) for fretless bass, violin, viola, cello, double-bass, etc. (difficulty: medium, amount: medium)
• custom scale and mode creation by adding, deleting, and moving the dot markers on the fretboard diagram (difficulty: very hard, amount: large)
• provide diagrams for the triads and tetrads (four-note chords) for each scale degree. This is lower in priority now that the arpegio highlighting has been added. (difficulty: hard, amount: large)
• make the note names of the diatonic scales accord with music theory so that no scale can have the same letter name appear twice. For example instead of an F and an F-sharp in the C-sharp major scale, it would need to be notated as E-sharp and F-sharp. Note exceptional cases like the F-double-sharp in the G-sharp major scale, and the B-double-flat in the F-flat major scale. This could make the fretboard markers confusing for those not familiar with the standard notation however. (difficulty: hard, amount: large)
• further to the above change to make the note names match music theory (never have the same letter name twice), change the sharp/flat switch to a sensible setting for the chosen scale and root. For example use the flat setting for the C melodic minor scale so the third degree is E-flat and not D-sharp. (difficulty: hard, amount: medium)
• further to the above change to make the note names match music theory, allow the root to be Cb, E#, and similar. (difficulty: hard, amount: medium)
• will it ever end? (difficulty: medium, amount: medium plus)

When you donate to the site remember to tell us which features or changes are most important to you so they will be made available first!