The scale degrees, and their pull
Every note of the scale has a number (1 to 7, then 8 = 1 again) and a name. The names aren't decoration — each one tells you what that note does in the key. Write the number with a little roof on it: ^1, ^2, ^3 … that's the standard shorthand for "scale degree one, two, three".
The seven names
| Degree | Name | Why that name |
|---|---|---|
| ^1 | Tonic | the tone — home, and the key is named after it |
| ^2 | Supertonic | "just above the tonic" |
| ^3 | Mediant | "in the middle" — halfway between tonic and dominant; it's also the note that makes a key major or minor |
| ^4 | Subdominant | "the dominant below" — a fifth below the tonic |
| ^5 | Dominant | the second-most important note after the tonic — a fifth above, the note the harmony pulls through on the way home |
| ^6 | Submediant | "the mediant below" — a third below the tonic |
| ^7 | Leading tone | it leads to the tonic — a half step below it, and it aches to go up |
The names come in mirror pairs around the tonic: dominant is a fifth up, subdominant a fifth down; mediant a third up, submediant a third down. The scale is symmetrical in its naming, even though it isn't in its steps.
Hear it — the notes that rest, and the notes that lean
Three of the seven are stable: ^1, ^3, ^5 — the notes of the tonic chord. Land on one and a phrase can stop there.
The other four — ^2, ^4, ^6, ^7 — lean, and mostly toward their nearest stable neighbour: ^7 → ^1 (up — the strongest pull of all), ^4 → ^3 (down), ^2 → ^1 (down), ^6 → ^5 (down).
Try it
Try
Play the G major scale up. On every restless note (^2, ^4, ^6, ^7) stop, then play the stable note it wants to reach, then carry on. So: G, A→G, B, C→B, D, E→D, F♯→G. Say the degree numbers out loud as you go.
Know the names cold
Scale degrees
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
The usual mistake
Reading ^7 as "just the note before the top". It's the leading tone — a half step from home, the most restless note in the key, and the engine behind almost every "we've arrived" moment in music. Composers raise it in minor keys precisely to get that half-step pull (you'll see that in the minor scales). Treat it with respect: when you land on ^7, something has to happen next.