What is the Major Scale?
This scale is one of the most commonly used scales in western music and all the other scales are formed from it. Having a good understanding of this scale will benefit you with your understanding of music. In this article we look at theory behind it and show you how to work out the notes within it.
How many notes are in this scale?
There are seven different notes in the major scale, the eighth note is the first note repeated. So, if the scale started on A the eighth and final note would also be A. These two notes are the same but second note is double the frequency. This is called an octave.
The note that you start on when playing a scale is called the "root note" or the "tonic". These notes give the major scales their names. If the root note of the scale is A then it will be called the A major scale.
How to work out what notes to use.
Working out the notes for every scale can be difficult but for the major scale there is a simple formula you can use to work out the notes in this scale.
Before you start this section you need to have good understanding of musical notes and music intervals.
What makes a major scale sound unique is the distance, or interval, between the different notes. You can play different major scales all over your guitar using completely different notes and they will all sound similar. The reason for this is the distance between the notes in the scale is always the same.
The Major Scale Formula
There is a set interval formula you can use to work out the notes of any major scale. This interval formula is the same for every major scale.
In this formula T stands for tone and S stands for semi-tone. A tone is two steps (or two frets on a guitar) and a semi-tone is one step (or one fret on a guitar)
So, here is the formula
T T S T T T S
Don't worry if this doesn't make any sense to you straight away. I'm going to use this formula to work out the notes of a major scales so you can see how it works.
The C Major Scale
In the scale below the notes of the scale are in bold and the intervals aren't.
C t D t E s F t G t A t B s C
You start on C and move up a tone and you get to D
From D you move up a tone you get E
From E you move up a semi-tone and you get F
From F you move up a tone and you get G
From G you move up a tone and you get A
From A you move up a tone and you get B
From B you move up a semi-tone you get to C
By using the interval formula I was able to work out all the notes in this scale.
If you have the root note of a major scale you can now work out the notes within it. You just start on that note and use the interval formula to move through the scale and find the notes.
Quick Tips
Here are a couple of tips to help you when working out the notes of a scale.
1. The first note and last note will always be the same. If you get to the end and your last note is anything but the same as the first note you've gone wrong somewhere and you should try again.
2. The notes will always go up alphabetically. Some notes may be sharp and some may be flat but the note will always go up in alphabetical order.
Give it a go, and if you don't understand anything leave a comment and I'll help you out.
If you found this useful please visit http://www.playguitarscalesnow.com for more articles like this. Sign up to our mailing list for a free copy of my ebook "Learn the Notes on the Guitar in 30 Days" http://www.playguitarscalesnow.com/newsletter/
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