The Major Scale Song
A key is a harmonic system based on a scale. Since there are seven different notes in a G Major Scale, there are also seven different chords and scales.
Here are the seven notes of a G Major Scale plus the octave:
G – A – B – C – D – E – F# – G
By skipping every other note in a G Major Scale using each note as a starting point, here is the Diatonic Order of G Chord Modes with their respective scales:
By adding the seventh to each chord and organizing them using the cycle of fourths, a harmonically meaningful seven-chord progression results called, “Natural Order.”
(1-4-7-3-6-2-5-1)
Natural Order Scale Practice Study:
The Natural Order of chord modes demonstrates the harmonic function of modes in a chord progression. It has a song-like quality and shows how a major scale naturally harmonizes itself. Many classical as well as jazz music compositions follow this pattern. For example, the “Prelude in C” by Johann Sebastian Bach from “The Well-Tempered Clavier” and in jazz, Jerome Kern’s, “All the Things You Are.”
From the book, “Straight Ahead Jazz For Banjo” by Pat Cloud