Chromatic scale

The chromatic scale is any musical scale that contains more than one consecutive half-step (in other words two adjacent pairs of scale degrees or members which are separated by a semitone). However, the term usually refers specifically to the scale that contains all twelve pitches of the Western tempered scale, discussed in this article. All of the other scales in traditional Western music are currently subsets of this scale. Each pitch is separated from its upper and lower neighbors by the interval of one half step, or semitone. In tonal and other music this scale finds little use outside of decorative runs up or down as it has no harmonic direction and is considered cliched. The term 'chromatic' is understood by musicians to refer to music which includes tones which are not members of the prevailing scale, and also as a word descriptive of those individually non-diatonic tones.

External links

• Tonalsoft Encyclopaedia of Tuning
• Musicians WikiWiki site dedicated to music theory/lessons