Scale degree

The position of a note within a scale, counted from the root, usually written as a number such as one, three or five.

Numbering the notes of a scale makes it possible to describe harmony in any key with the same language, so a one-four-five progression means the same relationships whether it is played in C or in F sharp. Degrees also carry the naming that players use daily, so the first degree is the tonic, the fifth is the dominant and the seventh is the leading tone in a major key. Guitarists meet degrees constantly through the Nashville number system and through chord-scale theory.

Example: A progression written as one, four, five in the key of G means the chords G, C and D.

Scale degree

See also