Chromatic scale Chromatic scale The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone above or below its adjacent pitches. As a result, in 12-tone equal temperament (the most common temperament in Western music), the chromatic scale covers all 12 of the available pitches. Thus, there is only one chromatic scale. Moreover, in equal temperament, all the semitones have the same size (100 cents). As a result, the notes of an equal-tempered chromatic scale are equally-spaced. This makes the chromatic scale a nondiatonic scale with no tonic because of the symmetry of its equally-spaced notes. The ascending and descending
Diatonic and chromatic contrast, the remaining bars are highly chromatic, using all the notes available to convey a sense of growing intensity as the music builds towards its expressive climax.] A further example may be found in this extract from Act III of Richard Wagner’s opera "Die Walkure" . The first four bars harmonize a descending chromatic scale with a rich, intoxicating chord progression. In contrast, the remaining three bars are entirely diatonic, using notes only within the scale of E major. The passage is intended to convey the god Wotan putting his daughter Brunnhilde into a deep sleep. <score vorbis="1"> { \relative