How Genres and Scales Work in Chord Nebula

In Chord Nebula, the genre you pick on the setup screen determines two things at once: which chord progressions the game throws at you, and which scales those progressions are drawn from. You don't choose a scale independently of a genre — the setup screen pairs each genre with its matching scale, so selecting "jazz" means you're working in dorian territory, and selecting "EDM" means phrygian. Pop and classical stay strictly in major and minor.

The genre-to-scale mapping

The game's own description lays out the pairing directly:

Two patterns are worth noticing. First, major and minor are the baseline for every genre — the modal scales are additions, not replacements. Second, the modes are grouped by genre family: mixolydian for the rock/blues pair, dorian for jazz/funk, phrygian for EDM alone.

What the genre actually controls

The genre is not just a label on the scale. According to the game, it "decides which progressions you get and which scales they are drawn from." So the genre is doing double duty:

• Progression selection — a jazz session serves up different chord movements than a pop session, because the progressions are the ones common to that style.
• Scale selection — the notes and chords falling down the play area come from the scales associated with that genre.

This matters because the game's stated goal is drilling "the common progressions those chords make in real music, across keys, scales, and genres." The genre setting is the mechanism that keeps the practice material idiomatic rather than generic.

How to pick genre and scale

From the setup screen:

1. Connect a MIDI keyboard (or a MIDI-capable app on your phone) and select it from the device list, then press Continue.
2. On the genre/scale screen, choose your Genre.
3. Choose the Scale that goes with it.
4. Continue to pick your key, then your level.

The scale list you see is tied to the genre you selected, so the pairing described above is enforced by the interface rather than left to you to assemble.

Why the modes are added where they are

The three modes in the table aren't arbitrary. Mixolydian, dorian, and phrygian are the modes most associated with the harmonic language of blues/rock, jazz/funk, and electronic dance music respectively — which is consistent with the game's framing that it teaches "in the order the music itself is built." If you're practicing jazz progressions, you'll encounter dorian because that's the mode those progressions live in; the same logic applies to the other pairs.

Practical implications for practice

• If you want modal practice, pick the genre that carries the mode. There's no separate "dorian mode" toggle — you get dorian by selecting jazz or funk.
• If you want to stay in familiar territory, pop and classical keep you in major and minor with no modal content.
• Levels 1–3 are free and cover scale notes and basic chords. Levels 4–8 add note ordering, root-in-bass voicings, seventh chords, and more, and require a one-time purchase from the setup screen. The genre/scale choice applies across levels, so the material you drill at level 5 in jazz will be jazz-flavored rather than generic.

A note on what the game shows you

While you're still finding your footing, note names appear on the orb. Once you're scoring, the note names drop away, leaving the chord name and its scale degree. So the scale you selected stays visible as a degree reference even after the individual note labels disappear — which is the point at which the genre/scale pairing starts doing real work for your ear rather than your eyes.