The full set
Ordered below by Aubel's unlock progression, the sequence the game teaches them in, which is not the order most textbooks use. The interval pattern (in semitones) sits next to each name. Every scale links to a full written guide.
- Major The reference scale. Whole-half pattern W W H W W W H. Read the guide →
- Natural Minor Major scale starting on the 6th degree. Flat 3rd, 6th, and 7th. Read the guide →
- Harmonic Minor Natural minor with a raised 7th. The augmented 2nd between 6 and 7 is the giveaway. Read the guide →
- Melodic Minor Raised 6th and 7th, both ascending and descending (the contemporary and jazz definition). Read the guide →
- Dorian Minor scale with a raised 6th. The 2nd mode of major. Read the guide →
- Mixolydian Major scale with a flat 7th. The 5th mode of major, dominant in blues and rock. Read the guide →
- Lydian Major scale with a raised 4th. The 4th mode of major, common in film scoring and jazz fusion. Read the guide →
- Phrygian Minor scale with a flat 2nd. The 3rd mode of major, signature of flamenco. Read the guide →
- Locrian Diminished tonic, no perfect 5th. The 7th mode of major, rarely used as a key center. Read the guide →
Why learning your scales and modes is worth it
Scales and modes are some of the most useful tools a musician owns. Drilling them builds fluency on your instrument and gives you the theoretical vocabulary to communicate with other musicians. The most immediate payoff is making sight-reading easier.
So much written music is built out of scalar passages: runs, motifs, and lines that move stepwise through a scale. If you can look at a phrase and recognize it as D Dorian or E♭ Locrian, you are no longer reading it note by note. You already know the shape under your fingers, and you can learn the run and perform it almost immediately. The name does the work of a dozen separate reading decisions.
None of this is strictly required. Plenty of musicians read and learn music without ever naming the scale underneath it. But knowing your scales and modes sharpens your eye and ear for the patterns that actually recur, and the more of those you recognize on sight, the faster everything else becomes.
The three minors
Most theory books teach three minor scales as if they're separate species. They aren't. They're three closely related scales that each solve a different problem with the 6th and 7th degrees.
Natural minor is the base. Flat 3rd, flat 6th, flat 7th. The 6th and 7th sit a whole step apart, so neither one pulls hard toward the tonic.
Harmonic minor raises the 7th so it becomes a leading tone. The cost is an awkward augmented 2nd between the 6th and the raised 7th, which is the exotic-sounding interval that gives harmonic minor its Eastern European flavor.
Melodic minor raises both the 6th and the 7th. The raised 6th smooths out the augmented 2nd that harmonic minor introduced. In the classical definition the scale only does this ascending; jazz uses melodic minor in both directions.
The five church modes after the minors
Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Locrian are modes of the major scale. Each one starts on a different scale degree of the parent major. Dorian is the 2nd mode (built on the 2nd degree), Phrygian the 3rd, Lydian the 4th, Mixolydian the 5th, Locrian the 7th. Same seven notes, different center, different sound.
The practical consequence: if you know your major scales, you can construct any mode by counting up to the right degree. C Lydian is G major's notes starting on G's 4th, which is C. Aubel doesn't ask you to do that mental math when training, but knowing the relationship makes the scales easier to remember by name. For a repeatable system that goes further, see our note on how to memorize the modes.
There is also a way to rank the modes by feel rather than by degree. Kostka and Payne order them by brightness, counting the major and augmented intervals each one holds above its tonic. By that measure Lydian comes out brightest and Locrian darkest, with the others ranged between. Each step down the order flattens one more note, which is why the ranking tracks how light or dark a mode sounds.
How the game runs
Aubel plays the full ascending and descending scale on a random root, then asks you to name what you heard. The tile grid contains whatever scales are currently in your active pool. You tap the one that matches. Rolling accuracy across the pool gates the next unlock.