diatonisch

diatonic, in music, any stepwise arrangement of the seven “natural” pitches (scale degrees) forming an octave without altering the established pattern of a key or mode - in particular, the major and natural minor scales.

: of, relating to, or being a musical scale (such as a major or minor scale) comprising intervals of five whole steps and two half steps.

To take an example, look at a C major scale. This is a diatonic scale, which also happens to be an Ionian mode of C (Ionian is the first degree of modality). The sixth degree is an Aeolian mode, which starts on A in this case.

Diatonic means coming from or derived from a scale or key. If our key is C major, then the notes of the key are C, D, E, F, G, A and B. While in the key of C, playing or using any of those seven notes is considered diatonic.

Diatonic scales have 7 notes. A pentatonic scale is a a diatonic scale that has two notes removed, using a the major scale as our basis we'd remove the 4th and 7th notes as they are only a half step from their neighbors and offer the most friction.

Definition 1.1. The chromatic scale is the musical scale with twelve pitches that are a half step apart. Definition 1.2. A diatonic scale is a seven-note musical scale with 5 whole steps and 2 half steps, where the half steps have the maximum separation usually 2 or 3 notes apart.

Any sequence of seven successive natural notes, such as C–D–E–F–G–A–B, and any transposition thereof, is a diatonic scale. Modern musical keyboards are designed so that the white-key notes form a diatonic scale, though transpositions of this diatonic scale require one or more black keys.

The use of diatonic scales dates back to Ancient Greece, where it was one of three standard tunings, along with chromatic and enharmonic (the term “diatonic” means “through tones''), each based around a sequence of four notes called a tetrachord.

Scales: Diatonic scales include both the major scale, or Ionian mode, which is the most frequently used musical scale, and the natural minor scale, or Aeolian mode, which uses the same number of notes as the major scale, but in a different pitch.

The pentatonic scale has a very distinct, instantly recognisable and pleasing sound that can be layered over many other chords and scales. For these reasons it is frequently found to be a key component of many popular songs.

One construction takes five consecutive pitches from the circle of fifths; starting on C, these are C, G, D, A, and E. Rearranging the pitches to fit into one octave creates the major pentatonic scale: C, D, E, G, A.

Diatonic chords are generally understood as those that are built using only notes from the same diatonic scale; all other chords are considered chromatic.