Major Scales

A scale is a set of notes arranged in order, from a starting note up to the same note an octave higher. The major scale is a set of seven notes, and it is the sound most people call bright, open, or happy.

The easiest major scale to see is C major: it uses only the white keys of the piano, starting on C.

Play it up, play it down, then play only the first and last note, the two C's. That distance is the octave, and everything in this chapter happens inside it.

Instead of naming every note, musicians number them. Each position in the scale is a degree. The starting note is degree 1, the next is 2, and so on up to 7. The octave is 1 again (sometimes written as 8).

Why numbers? Because numbers are relative. 3 means "the third note of whatever scale I am in". In C major it is E; in G major it will be B. The letters change, the numbers never do. That is why we teach every scale and chord with numbers.

The formula 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 is a list of intervals above degree 1. Each number names the distance from the tonic to that note, and you already met every one of those distances in the Intervals chapter: 2 is a major second above 1, 3 a major third, 4 a perfect fourth, 5 a perfect fifth, 6 a major sixth, 7 a major seventh, and 8 is the octave.

Look at the names: every interval in the major scale is major or perfect. Nothing is minor, nothing is diminished. That is the definition of the scale, and it is how you find any degree in any key: name the interval, then go there. The 6 of C major is a major sixth above C, which is A.

Two neighbours sit especially close. From 3 to 4 and from 7 to 8 is only a minor second, the smallest interval there is (on the white keys, E to F and B to C, the two places with no black key between them). Every other pair of neighbours is a major second apart. Those two tight steps are what tell your ear where home is.

Each degree also has a traditional name that describes its job inside the scale. You will hear these names constantly in the chord chapters, so let's meet them now.

The three you will use most are tonic (1), subdominant (4) and dominant (5). Listen to how 1 feels settled, 4 feels like it has stepped outside, and 5 feels like it wants to go back.

Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti is solfège, a way of singing the scale with one syllable per degree. In the system used in this course, Do is always degree 1, whatever the key. So solfège is simply the formula, sung:

This is why you can sing Do-Re-Mi starting on any note and it always sounds like the major scale: your voice is following 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, not fixed pitches.

Not every degree feels the same. Degrees 1, 3 and 5 are stable: a melody can stop on them and feel finished. Degrees 2, 4, 6 and 7 are unstable: they feel like they are on their way somewhere.

The two strongest pulls are called tendency tones: 7 pulls up to 1, and 4 pulls down to 3. In both cases the target is only a minor second away, the closest two notes can be. Play a melody that stops on 7 and it sounds unfinished. Let it fall onto 1 and it relaxes.

Here is the payoff of the formula. To build a major scale on any note, start on that note and place each degree at its interval above 1: a major second, a major third, a perfect fourth, a perfect fifth, a major sixth and a major seventh. Let's do it on G.

Everything is a white key until degree 7. A major seventh above G is F#: the plain F is only a minor seventh above G, one step too small. So G major needs one black key. The F# is also what makes 7 → 1 (F# to G) that tight leading-tone step.

Some keys need a note lowered instead of raised. Start the formula on F:

Degree 4 must be a perfect fourth above F. The plain B is an augmented fourth above F, one step too wide, so we lower it to Bb. F major has one flat.

Let's go one step further in each direction. D major is a fifth above G; Bb major is a fifth below F. Each one needs a second black key, and notice that each keeps the black key from the previous scale.

D major keeps the F# from G major and adds C# (its new leading tone, degree 7). Bb major keeps the Bb from F major and adds Eb (its new degree 4). Sharps always arrive on degree 7; flats always arrive on degree 4.

There are twelve notes, so there are twelve major scales. Each new scale a fifth higher adds one sharp; each new scale a fifth lower adds one flat. Here is the complete family:

Don't memorise this table. Build it. Every row is the same 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 placed on a new starting note. Try a few of the harder ones by ear and hear that they are all the same scale.

Writing a sharp or flat in front of every F# in a piece of G major would be tedious. Instead, the accidentals of the key are written once, at the start of every line of music: this is the key signature. One sharp at the start means "every F is F#": you are in G major.

Sharps are always added in the same order, F# C# G# D# A# E# B#, and flats in the reverse order, Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb Fb. Look at the staff at the top of this page: when you change key in the composer, the key signature changes to match.

Here is why we spent a whole chapter on seven numbers. From now on, every scale and every chord in this course is written as a change to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. A b lowers a degree, so its interval turns from major to minor (or from perfect to diminished). A # raises it, so the interval turns augmented.

Listen to C major next to C minor. Same 1, 2, 4 and 5, but the b3, b6 and b7 completely change the mood. You can already read the difference from the formula before you hear it.