In the very first lesson of this course, we told you that there are only TWELVE notes. For just about every piece of music you've heard in your entire life, just twelve. Honestly, the fact that we have gotten so much rich variety from just twelve notes is quite remarkable.

Even more remarkable: The vast majority of the music you listen to every day uses a smaller subset of those 12 notes.

The major scale is the foundation upon which just about everything in Western Music is built... and it's only seven notes.

If you're already a musician, then this is likely not news to you. You've probably been practicing and playing your scales for a while, but there's a decent chance you haven't learned the how and why of their construction.

The major scale is seven notes, built from a specific pattern of whole steps (W) and half steps (H):

W — W — H — W — W — W — H

As a quick reminder, a half-step is the smallest distance possible between two notes. It's the distance between a C and a C#, one fret on a guitar, or one key to an adjacent key (white or black) on a piano. A whole step is (you guessed it!) TWO half steps.

Following this pattern of whole steps and half steps from any note will give you a Major scale.

Starting on C:

C — D — E — F — G — A — B — C

That's the C major scale. Remember that on a piano there is no black key between E-F and B-C, so you get our specific pattern of whole and half steps with all white keys on the piano. This is why C major is the first scale everyone learns.

Now use the same formula starting with G:

G — A — B — C — D — E — F# — G

The F has to be sharped to keep the pattern correct, because E-F is a half step and our pattern dictates that we need a whole between the 6th and 7th notes of the scale.

A major scale must not repeat any letter names... it always goes through all 7 letters and ends on the one it begins on. This is important to keep in mind because there are multiple ways to spell out every note in the scale. Two notes that sound the same but are spelled differently are called enharmonic notes. C# and Db SOUND the same.

This scale:

SOUNDS the same as this scale:

The Gb from the first scale SOUNDS the same as the F# in the second, but the first example is wrong because it has two Gs in a row.

Each note in a major scale has a number, called a scale degree:

These numbers will follow you through the rest of this course. When someone says "the 5th," they mean the fifth note of whatever major scale you're in. When someone says "flat the 3rd," they mean lower the third scale degree by a half step (which gives you a minor scale — but that's for later).

Almost everything in music theory is described in terms of distance from the major scale:

• A minor scale? Flat the 3rd, 6th, and 7th of the major scale.
• A dominant 7th chord? The 1, 3, 5, and flat 7 of the major scale.
• The Dorian mode? The major scale starting from the 2nd degree.

Don't stress about any of this just yet, and definitely don't think you need to memorize those alterations. The point is: learn the major scale well, and you'll have the foundation for everything.

The following resources will explain all of this in greater detail, with audio examples and everything. If there's one thing to remember right now though it's that pattern of whole/half steps. Write it down somewhere. Commit it to memory. Tattoo it on your forearm.

WWHWWWH

W W H W W W H

W W H W W W H

…OK maybe don’t tattoo that pattern on yourself just yet. Eventually we‘ll be learning ways to figure out the notes of major scales much more efficiently than counting half-steps.

• Brad Harrison Music - Major Scales — Great video! If you only watch one, make it this one! (note: he uses the terms semi-tone and tone instead of half-step, whole-step. Don't let this trip you up. They're the same thing.)
• Avi Blum - The Major Scale, Explained - Another basic explainer... goes over the same basic content as the previous one, but with some more examples. The major scale is absolutely foundational, so it's worth hearing it a couple of times.
• Didier Leclaire - Master The Major Scale: A Professor's Guide to Music Theory - This one is optional. It's loooooooong.... but if you're feeling lost, he goes in depth into a lot of the prerequisite information you might be missing.

Head on over to our Scale Trainer and practice making some major scales! Start with some of the easier keys like C, G, D, F, and Bb... but don't be afraid to try to branch out!

It might be helpful for you to have a keyboard to look at, so feel free to find an image to print off, or just draw one on a piece of paper. We also have a digital one here that you can play with, if that's preferable to you.

If you play an instrument, play through some major scales and think about the notes you're playing while you do it. Don't just run through them mechanically. Say the note names out loud as you play. Think about the patterns of whole and half steps and how they line up on your instrument.