In music, the first and most basic pattern to know is the chromatic scale. It’s actually so basic you might even say it’s the mother of all note patterns. Every scale and every chord comes from the chromatic scale. And nearly all instruments are based on this pattern of notes. The most common example of the chromatic scale is a piano keyboard.

The first thing you might notice about this pattern is that it has only 12 notes. And each note sounds a little different. In fact, the best way to hear the chromatic scale is to actually play it. Seriously … try it. Sit down at a piano and run your fingers across the keyboard. As you hit each note—moving from left to right—you’ll hear the notes gradually rise in pitch. And when you move in the opposite direction—playing one note after another—the notes gradually fall in pitch.

If you keep moving left or right across the keyboard, the notes keep getting lower or higher. So the notes get lower moving to the left … while the notes get higher moving to the right. But really, you’re just repeating the same 12 notes over and over again. And that’s why music is so simple: the chromatic scale is just a nice little pattern of 12 basic notes.

To keep track of which note is which, musicians name each note using letters. It’s a little weird how it works, but it’s easy to explain. While some notes have just one letter name, other notes are labeled using what are called “sharps” (#) and “flats” (b). If a note has a sharp symbol (#) in its name, it means it’s higher than the note to its left. And if a note has a flat sign (b), it’slower than the note to its right.

For example, the note between C and D is sometimes called C# (meaning it’s higher than C). And sometimes, it’s called Db (meaning it’s lower than D). But no matter what you call it (C# or Db), it’s really just the same note.

Of course, I could go on about how silly and strange note names are, but that’s beside the point. What really matters is that the chromatic scale includes all 12 notes in music … and each of these notes is equal.

In fact, that’s why the chromatic scale doesn’t sound that great. As you move from one note to the next, the pitch gradually rises or falls. So obviously, it’s not much fun to play. But the truth is, it doesn’t have to be.

You see, most musicians don’t actually play the chromatic scale at all. It’s just the collection of all 12 notes laid out in order. You might think of it as a kind of painter’s palette. Like any good painter, you simply pick and choose the notes you want to use.

In reality, musicians play smaller patterns that sound a lot more interesting. And the most popular of these is called the “major scale.” Which is the next step on our way to seeing sound with Color Music.