right right.. so then.. I am listening to Civil War by Guns'n'Roses and I'm like.. oh that's the Eb/D# Mixolydian scale.. which is based on the G# Major/Ionian scale.. and I'm like.. whoah.. I actually understand this stuff... so yeh.. I was going to post that 12 note chromatic thing in the last post but I got carried away and forgot about it.. So here it is.. I'll start with the A as the root note rather than the C as the root note because everyone does the C scale.. lol..

A <--- (1st or Root) --- (1) --- (I) --->
A# <--- (Minor 2nd) --- (b2) --- (ii) --->
B <--- (Major 2nd) --- (2) --- (II) --->
C <--- (Minor 3rd) --- (b3) --- (iii) --->
C# <--- (Major 3rd) --- (3) --- (III) --->
D <--- (Perfect 4th) --- (4) --- (IV) --->
D# <--- (Diminished 5th) --- (b5) --- (v) --->
E <--- (Perfect 5th) --- (5) --- (V) --->
F <--- (Minor 6th) --- (b6) --- (vi) --->
F# <--- (Major 6th) --- (6) --- (VI) --->
G <--- (Minor 7th) --- (b7) --- (vii) --->
G# <--- (Major 7th) --- (7) --- (VII) --->

Ok.. so you could write the scale in 4 basic ways:

A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#

or...

1, b2, 2, b3, 3, 4, b5, 5, b6, 6, b7, 7
(NB: The lower-case "b" before the numbers indicates a flat note.)

or...

I, ii, II, iii, III, IV, v, V, vi, VI, vii, VII
(NB Lower-case letters indicate the flat note.)

or..

Root, Minor 2nd, Major 2nd, Minor 3rd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Diminished 5th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th, Major 6th, Minor 7th, Major 7th.

Now.. with the WHOLE picture.. the intervals actually make a lot more sense.. So when someone says 1,2,3,4,5,6,7.. what they really mean is: Root, Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6th, Major 7th. Yeh sure.. you could say.. Whole Step (WS), WS, Half Step (HS), WS, WS, WS, HS.. but without the "why of it".. it's just another formula.. another shape.. another pattern and doesn't make a lot of sense when you start applying it to other keys.. at least it didn't to me. Now take chord construction theory where a Major Chord is built from I-III-V (or 1-3-5).. and then you see that a Minor Chord is the same notes except with a "Minor 3rd" note instead of a "Major 3rd" note... it's all starts to click into place.. Same with the Major 7th Chord.. You still need your I-III-V to make the basic Major Chord but now you also need to add the... you guessed it.. Major 7th Note of that scale... Add a Minor 7th Note with your Minor Chord (I-iii-V) and you get a Minor 7th Chord.

Anyway.. I could go on and on.. lol..

Oh yes.. one last thing.. with the chromatic scale.. it's the same intervals in the same places regardless of the Root note because all the intervals are half-steps... So let's just take one quick last look at 2 major scales.. The C Major scale that everyone seems to use in their lessons and then the A Major scale to see how easy it is..

C Major Scale
C (WS) D (WS) E (HS) F (WS) G (WS) A (WS) B (HS) C
1 (WS) 2 (WS) 3 (HS) 4 (WS) 5 (WS) 6 (WS) 7 (HS) 1


A Major Scale
A (WS) B (WS) C# (HS) D (WS) E (WS) F# (WS) G# (HS) A
1 (WS) 2 (WS) 3 (HS) 4 (WS) 5 (WS) 6 (WS) 7 (HS) 1

A Major Chord is therefore:
A (WS) (WS) C# (HS) (WS) E
1 (WS) (WS) 3 (HS) (WS) 5

A C# and E.. and an A Minor? Lower or flatten the 3rd note, which is the C# and you get A C E.. Without understanding why you are doing a Whole Step, the whole point of intervals in general is lost..