The Major Scale

A scale is a selection: out of the twelve available notes, pick a few and use those. The major scale picks seven, and it picks them with a fixed pattern of steps.

The pattern is whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half.

Start on C and follow it. Whole step from C is D. Whole from D is E. A half step from E is F — remember E and F are already touching. Whole from F is G, whole from G is A, whole from A is B, and a half step from B is C again.

C D E F G A B C, with no sharps and no flats anywhere. That is why C major is the one everybody starts with, and why it is all white keys on a piano.

The pattern is what matters, not the starting note. Apply it from G and you get G A B C D E F sharp — the same shape of steps, so it sounds like the same kind of scale, and the F has to be sharpened to make the pattern come out right. That single sharp is what people mean when they say a song is in the key of G.

C Major

C major on the fretboard. Every one of these notes is a natural — no sharps, no flats.

Digital Keyboard

Play C D E F G A B C on the white keys, then try starting on G using only white keys. The seventh note sounds wrong, and that is the F needing to be sharp.

C major, one octave in open position

Play it slowly, saying each note name aloud: C D E F G A B C.

e
B
G
D
A
E

--------------------------|
--------------------0--1--|
--------------0--2--------|
-----0--2--3--------------|
--3-----------------------|
--------------------------|

Now hear it in context. This is a slow ballad in C major at 78 beats per minute.

Play the scale above, one note per bar, while the track runs. Every note will fit, because the track is built from this scale — which is what being in a key means.

Then find the note the music keeps wanting to settle on. That is C, the first note of the scale, and its pull is the strongest single force in tonal music.

C major at 78 BPM. One scale note per bar, and listen for which one feels like home.