What is Music Theory Reference?

Look up scales, chords, keys, and intervals in one place. Browse major, minor, pentatonic, and blues scales with their note patterns. View chord formulas for major, minor, diminished, augmented, and seventh chords. Great when you need a quick theory refresher while writing or practicing.

Four panels cover scales (major, natural and harmonic minor, modes, pentatonic, blues), triads and seventh chords (major, minor, dim, aug, sus, dom7, maj7, m7, dim7), all 12 major and minor keys with key-signature counts and relative minor/major, plus the 13 interval names from unison to octave. Click any note to hear it.

How to use

1. Pick a category from the tabs at the top: Scales, Chords, or Keys.
2. Pick a root note (C through B, including sharps/flats) to see all patterns starting from that note.
3. View the note sequence, interval pattern, and formula for each scale or chord type.

When to use

• Songwriting and looking up which notes are in a scale or chord.
• Studying for music theory exams (intervals, modes, key signatures).
• Guitarists and producers transposing a song to a new key.

Result

A guitarist composing in the key of E minor selects 'Scales', picks 'E', and 'Natural Minor' and sees the notes E, F#, G, A, B, C, D with the interval pattern W-H-W-W-H-W-W. They then check related chords for the key.

FAQ

Can I see the notes written with flats instead of sharps?

Yes — flip the Accidentals toggle in the controls to switch every note display from sharps (C♯, D♯, F♯, G♯, A♯) to their flat equivalents (D♭, E♭, G♭, A♭, B♭). The audio and the underlying maths are identical; the choice is just how the spelling fits the key signature you're reading.

What's the difference between natural, harmonic and melodic minor?

Natural minor follows the relative-major key signature exactly. Harmonic minor raises the 7th degree by a semitone, useful for the dominant chord. Melodic minor raises the 6th and 7th going up but reverts to natural going down in classical practice.

How do I work out chords inside a key from the chord chart?

Build a triad on each scale degree using the scale notes. In a major key the pattern is I major, ii minor, iii minor, IV major, V major, vi minor, vii diminished. The Chords panel gives you the formula and notes for any of those triads.

What's an interval and why are they important?

An interval is the distance between two notes counted in semitones, with names like minor third, perfect fifth, tritone. They're the building blocks of melodies and chords: a major chord is root, major third, perfect fifth stacked together.

Why do the audio examples sound a little robotic?

Each note is a short synthesized tone generated on the fly with the Web Audio API — not a sampled instrument. That keeps the page lightweight and works offline, but the timbre is intentionally clean rather than expressive.

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