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Chords To Scales

The Chords To Scales tool is a popup window, opened by:

 

Tool Bar:

Menu:  Tools-Chords To Scales

 

It analyzes the series of chords that you enter, and displays the scales to which they are most strongly related.

 

You can use to this to identify the scale of a song, by entering the sequence of chords it contains.

 

A similar function is available in the Relations window, using a multiple selection of chords.

 

The Chords list and Scales list are colored blue and red respectively as with other areas in the ChordWizard workspace.  You can change these colors with the Display Options.

 

 

Controls

 

 

Add Chord >>

Opens a popup chord matrix so that you can select a new chord to add to the Chords list.

 

Each cell in the matrix represents the chord based on the chord type in the row heading and the root note in the column heading.

 

Clicking on a cell in the matrix adds the new chord to the Chords list and closes the matrix again. There are also specific keystrokes you can use with the matrix.

 

 

Chords

Holds the sequence of chords that you have selected.  The count of chords in the list is shown above it.

 

Each time you make a change to the Chords list, the Scales list is updated automatically.

 

 

Remove

Removes the selected chord from the Chords list.  The Scales list is updated automatically.

 

 

Relations of Chord

Shows you the scales related to the chord currently selected in the Chords list, by opening the Relations window on top with this chord automatically selected.

 

 

Play Chord

Plays the chord currently selected in the Chords list.

 

 

Scales

Shows the scales which are relations of any of the chords in the Chords list.  The count of scales in the list is shown above it.

 

A scale is considered to be related to a chord when it contains all of the notes of the chord (usually it contains extra notes as well).  It is NOT related to a chord when the chord contains a note which is not found in the scale.

 

Each scale in the list is ranked with a percentage to indicate what proportion of the chords it is related to.  In this way, better scale choices appear towards the top of the list.

 

For example, if you enter the two chords G7 and Am, the scale C Major is listed as 100%, being a relation of both of these chords.  By contrast, the scale F Major is listed as 50%, because it is a relation of only Am, and not G7 (since G7 contains the note B, not found in the F Major scale).

 

The Scales list is updated automatically as the Chords list changes.

 

 

Set Filter to Scale

Sends the selected scale to the filterWhen you return to the workspace, Relations View can help you find other suitable chords for songwriting, or Scales View can show you positions for playing the scale.

 

 

Relations of Scale

Shows you the chords related to the scale currently selected in the Scales list, by opening the Relations window on top with this scale automatically selected.

 

 

Play Scale

Plays the scale currently selected in the Scales list.

 

 

Close

Closes the Chords To Scales window and returns to the workspace.

 

 

Help

Opens ChordWizard Help at this topic.

 

 

See Also

 

Chords

Scales

Standard Chord Types

Standard Scale Types

Understanding Relations