# Scale

Source: https://arcosounds.com/glossary/scale

**A scale is an ordered sequence of pitches spanning an octave, defined by its specific pattern of whole and half steps.**

The major scale follows the pattern whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half, the entire reason major keys sound the way they do. The natural minor scale reorders the same intervals starting from the sixth degree, and the harmonic and melodic minor forms raise the seventh, and the sixth and seventh, to sharpen the pull toward the tonic.

For string players, scales are not busywork: they are the mechanism by which the hand learns each key's finger pattern, each position's geography, and each shift's distance. A scale practised slowly with attention to intonation transfers directly into every piece in that key, which is why they open nearly every serious practice session.

Canonical source: https://arcosounds.com/glossary/scale