01.09.07 Music Theory 101: Scale Degrees

A couple people have shown interest in geeking out here with some music theory talk.  That’s what my degree is in so I can geek out for sure.  Let’s start simple though.  Here’s a basic premise to begin with that forms the foundation of everything else in music theory:

Our Western scale (a major scale) has eight notes in it.  Let’s say you’re starting on the note “C,” for instance.  To build a C scale you’d play these notes in order from lowest to highest: C D E F G A B C

That’s a major scale.

Now, give each note a number from one to eight:

C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, etc.

These numbers are “scale degrees.” The fourth scale degree in the C major scale is F; the seventh scale degree in a C major scale is B, etc.

Now, build a chord on any note in the C scale using other notes from the C scale.  A G chord, for example starts on G and uses every other note: G B D.  That’s a G major chord.  It can also be called the five chord (often written as 5 or V on a chord chart).  In the key of C (in the C scale) G is the fifth scale degree so it’s chord is called the five chord.

In the key of C, a D chord would be the two chord (written 2 or ii); the E chord would be the three chord (written 3 or iii).

Next time we’ll get into what makes a chord major or minor and how that changes how it’s written or notated on a chord chart.