Learning Mode

Learning Mode in The Ultimate Piano is where you look up any scale, chord or key and see it on the keyboard and on the staff at the same time. Pick a root and a type, and the keys light up while the notes appear in the score. Change the root and both follow immediately. Seeing the same structure in two places at once is what makes it more than a chord chart — the name turns into a shape your hands recognise, with the fingering on the keys if you want it.

Learning Mode covers 14 scale types, 30 chord qualities, and the 7 diatonic chords of any key, all rendered directly on the piano and on a Grand Staff score. That makes music theory something you can see rather than only read about.

On this page

Scale Visualization on the Keyboard

Scale visualization is the core of Learning Mode: choose a root and a scale type, and every note of that scale highlights across the keyboard at once. The tonic (root) and the octave above it are coloured in your secondary highlight colour so the scale's anchor points stand out. With Note Names on Keys switched on, each key also carries its scale degree — 1, 2, 3 for major, 1, 2, ♭3 for minor, ♭5 for the blue note of a blues scale. Learning Mode supports all 14 scale types — major, minor, the modes Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian and Aeolian, harmonic minor, melodic minor, plus major/minor pentatonic and major/minor blues.

How to Open Learning Mode

Open the Learn menu in the header and choose Chords & Scales. The Learning bar — the Theory Bar — appears above the keyboard with its controls in one row.

Three Modes

Switch between three modes from the Mode dropdown:

Selecting a root note, scale type, or chord quality updates the display immediately — no need to confirm. Highlights stay visible as long as the Learning bar is open, and the bar remembers your last choice the next time you open it.

Scales, Chords & Diatonic Harmony

Scales

Display complete scales across the keyboard:

• Major and Minor scales
• Modes (Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian)
• Pentatonic and Blues scales
• Harmonic and Melodic Minor

Choose a Range of 1 octave or 2 octaves. The tonic (root) and the octave above it are highlighted in your secondary color so the scale's anchor points stand out, and with note names on the keys each key also shows its scale degree (1, 2, ♭3 …) as a learning aid.

When you press Play, the keyboard plays the scale ascending one note at a time and the cursor in the score advances note by note in sync — exactly as it would when you read along. While a scale is shown, the keyboard's note names follow that scale's key; close the bar and your own key setting is back.

Chords

Select any chord type and root note to see which keys make up that chord. The list starts with the triads and the most common seventh chords and ends with the extended chords:

• Triads — Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented
• Power chord and suspended chords — 5, sus4, sus2
• Seventh chords — maj7, m7, 7, m7b5, dim7
• Added-note and sixth chords — add9, 6, m6, madd9, 6/9
• More seventh chords — 7sus4, aug7, 7b5
• Extended chords — 9, m9, maj9, 7b9, 7#9, 9sus4, 13, m11, maj13, m13

You can also view every chord inversion the chord has:

• Root Position – Root note at the bottom
• 1st Inversion – Third at the bottom
• 2nd Inversion – Fifth at the bottom
• 3rd Inversion – Seventh at the bottom (four-note chords and larger)
• 4th to 6th Inversion – For extended chords, up to the 6th inversion of a minor thirteenth

The chord name shown for the selection uses the same spelling as everywhere else in the app — for example C6/9, C7(♯5) or C7(♭9).

Diatonic Chords

Pick a root note and a scale type — Diatonic mode lights up the seven chord roots of that key (plus the octave I) and labels each key with:

• The chord name (e.g. Cm, Ddim, Eb) directly on the key, replacing the note name
• The Roman numeral (i, ii°, III, iv, V, VI, VII…) above the key, with case and symbols indicating quality (uppercase = major, lowercase = minor, ° = diminished, + = augmented)

For the modes, the numerals are written against the major scale on the same root, as in common music theory — D Dorian reads i, ii, ♭III, IV, v, vi°, ♭VII.

The score below the keyboard displays the full diatonic chord progression of the key. Press Play to hear all eight chords in sequence — the cursor in the score advances one chord per beat so you can see exactly which chord is sounding.

Supported scale types: Major, Minor (natural / aeolian), the modes Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and Mixolydian, Harmonic Minor, and Melodic Minor. Pentatonic and Blues scales are greyed out in the scale type selector — they don't have seven distinct degrees, so they cannot form a complete diatonic family.

Examples:

• C Major: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim, C — I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii°, I
• A Natural Minor: Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am — i, ii°, III, iv, v, VI, VII, i
• A Harmonic Minor: Am, Bdim, Caug, Dm, E, F, G#dim, Am — i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, vii°, i

Features

Visual Overlay

When you select a scale, chord, or diatonic key, the corresponding keys light up on the keyboard. This helps you:

• See the shape and pattern of the structure
• Understand which notes are included
• Learn the intervals between notes

In Scale and Diatonic mode the tonic and its octave are coloured with the secondary highlight, marking the anchor points of the key.

Mark Other Keys

In Scale and Chord mode, the Mark other keys switch also marks every other key that belongs to the current key or scale — so you see a chord inside its key, not on its own.

Octave Selection

Use the − / + buttons in the Octave segment (or the keyboard shortcuts − and +) to shift the displayed scale, chord or diatonic chords up or down on the keyboard. This is useful when the visible keyboard range doesn't align well with the natural centre of what you are looking at.

Finger Numbers

Choose a hand — RH or LH — in the Hand segment of Scale or Chord mode, and the recommended finger numbers (1–5) appear at the keys:

• Chord fingerings — hand positions for chord types and their inversions
• Scale fingerings — standard fingerings including thumb-under positions, for the right hand and the left hand, over one or two octaves

Finger numbers are shown where an established standard fingering exists; for the rest the keys stay without numbers rather than showing a guess.

Play Button & Score Cursor

Click Play to hear the selected structure automatically:

• Scale — notes play ascending one at a time; the score cursor advances note by note
• Chord — all notes sound simultaneously
• Diatonic — all 8 chords (seven degrees + octave I) play in sequence; the score cursor advances chord by chord

The score is rendered on a Grand Staff in Scale and Diatonic mode so the cursor always lands on a real staff line, regardless of how high or low the structure sits on the keyboard. In Diatonic mode the score automatically distributes each chord between the treble and bass clef based on its pitch — chords in the lower octaves appear in the bass clef instead of with many ledger lines.

Root Note Selection

Choose any root note to transpose the chord or scale across the keyboard. The dropdown uses the names the keys carry — D♭, E♭, F♯, A♭ and B♭ for most chords, and F♯ major and E♭ minor for the scales where both spellings are equally common.

Learning Mode picks its root and scale here, in the bar itself — not from the key set with the Circle of Fifths button in the header. That header key is the app's own key, for note names, chord names while you play and the Progression Generator. While a scale is shown, the keyboard follows that scale's key; close the bar and your own key is back.

Display Options

Customize how chords and scales appear in Settings → Display:

• Highlight Color – Choose your preferred color for highlighted keys
• Rainbow Keys – Tint every white key in its own colour: C red, D yellow, E green and so on
• Note Names on Keys – Display note labels on the keys

Musically Correct Note Names

Learning Mode automatically displays note names in their musically correct spelling based on the chord or scale context. For example:

• F# Major scale shows F#, G#, A#, B, C#, D#, E# (not Gb, Ab, Bb...)
• Bb Minor chord shows Bb, Db, F (not A#, C#...)
• C#dim7 shows C#, E, G, Bb (correct context for diminished 7th)

This ensures you learn the theoretically correct note names for every chord and scale.

Use Cases

Capture any chord, scale, or diatonic visualization as an image with the Piano Diagram Maker — the file is named after what you selected, for example D-dorian.

• Music Theory Study – Understand how chords, scales, and the diatonic chords of a key are constructed
• Improvisation – See which notes fit over a chord progression and which chords belong to a key
• Songwriting – Explore the chord palette of a key visually with Diatonic mode
• Teaching – Demonstrate scale, chord, and diatonic harmony structures to students, and create diagrams for lesson materials
• Reference – Quickly look up any chord, scale, or key's diatonic chord family

For young learners: Enable Kids Icons to show fun animal characters instead of note names.

Learning vs. Practice Hub

• Learning Mode – Explore and understand (visual reference)
• Practice Hub – Actively train with exercises and feedback: Chords, Scales, Notes, or Ear Training

Tip: Combine Learning Mode with Toggle Mode to keep structures highlighted while you experiment with different voicings or play along.

Advanced: Discover chromatic connections with Passing Chords between any two chord shapes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many chord types are available in Learning Mode?

30 chord qualities are available in Learning Mode: the four triads (Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented), the power chord, sus2 and sus4, the seventh chords (maj7, m7, 7, m7b5, dim7, 7sus4, aug7, 7b5), added-note and sixth chords (add9, madd9, 6, m6, 6/9), and extended chords (9, m9, maj9, 7b9, 7#9, 9sus4, 13, m11, maj13, m13). Each can be viewed in all of its inversions in The Ultimate Piano.

How many scale types does scale visualization support?

14 scale types are supported in scale visualization: major, minor, the modes Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian and Aeolian, harmonic minor, melodic minor, and major/minor pentatonic and blues. Pick a root and the whole scale lights up across the keyboard over one or two octaves, with the tonic marked in your secondary colour.

What is Diatonic mode?

7 diatonic chords are shown in Diatonic mode — the chords that naturally belong to a key. Pick a root and a scale type, and the keyboard lights up the seven chord roots, each labelled with the chord name (Cm, Ddim, …) and its Roman numeral (i, ii°, III, …). The score displays the full diatonic harmony progression and Play steps through all eight chords in sequence. Diatonic mode works with any seven-note scale (Major, Minor, the modes, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor); pentatonic and blues scales are not available because they don't have seven distinct degrees.

Does Learning Mode show finger numbers automatically?

Yes, as soon as you choose a hand. Pick RH or LH in the bar and the standard piano fingerings (1–5) appear at the keys for the selected chord or scale. Scale fingerings include thumb-under positions for both right and left hand.

What is the difference between Learning Mode and the Practice Hub?

Learning Mode is for exploring and understanding — select any scale, chord, or key's diatonic chords to see and hear them on the keyboard. The Practice Hub is for active training — the system gives you a chord or scale to play and grades your response with instant feedback.

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