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
Heptatonic scale Heptatonic scale A heptatonic scale is a musical scale that has seven pitches per octave. Examples include the "major scale" or "minor scale"; e.g., in C major: C D E F G A B C—and in the relative minor, A minor, natural minor: A B C D E F G A; the "melodic minor scale", A B C D E FGA ascending, A G F E D C B A descending; the "harmonic minor scale", A B C D E F GA; and a scale variously known as the "Byzantine", and "Hungarian", scale, C D E F G A B