Understanding Major Scales in Music Theory

Major scales. Everything you need to know so you don't fail music class in seven minutes. A scale is a set of notes that are ordered by pitch. There are many types of scales, but the major scale is one of the most important and is a cornerstone of music theory in the Western classical music tradition. Understanding major scales is crucial to success in tackling theoretical concepts such as intervals, key signatures, triads, tetrads, pentads, hexads, heptads, also known as chords, solfege with movable do, solfege with fixed do, minor scales, bebop scales. pentatonic scales, cadences, chord progressions, the circle of fifths, the circle of fourths, and modes. All of these things and more are better understood through major scales, so let's get started. There are 15 major scales. Although they look very different at first glance, they're all built using the same few simple rules. Let's take a look at the easiest one, C major. Notice that the C major scale has eight notes. It starts and ends on the same note, in this case C, and every other letter name shows up just once. A, B, C to start and end the scale, D, E, F, and G. These are the first three rules which every major scale must follow. Every major scale has eight notes, the same starting and ending note, and has every other note name once. Let's look at another scale, D major. It too has eight notes, starts and ends on the same note, and each other letter name shows up only once. E flat major is the same. Eight notes, same note to start and end, and has all the other notes one time. But why do some scales have sharps and some have flats? And how do I know which sharps and flats to use? That has to do with the intervallic relationship between the notes of the scale. Let's take a look at the piano keyboard for a better understanding of what that means. We've already seen what C major looks like on the staff. Here's what it looks like on the piano. It's C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Notice that these notes were played, but these notes weren't. They were skipped. It's this pattern of played and skipped notes that make a major scale sound like a major scale. The pattern is defined by a series of tones and semitones between the notes. If you don't remember or are unfamiliar with tones and semitones, a semitone is the smallest interval on the piano. It's the closest note to another note. It's sometimes called a half step. So C to C sharp is a semitone and C sharp to D is a semitone, as is D to D sharp and D sharp to E. But what's a semitone above E? It's just the next note on the piano, in this case F. Of course, all these are semitones as well, as is B to C. A tone is just two semitones. It's sometimes called a whole step or a whole tone. So C to D is a tone and C sharp to D sharp is a tone, as well as D to E. But what about a tone above E? F sharp. That's a semitone from E to F, and a semitone from F to F sharp, and two semitones make a tone. Applying the concept of tones and semitones to the notes of C major, we see that from C to D is a tone, and from D to E is a tone, but E to F is only a semitone. Then, F to G, G to A, and A to B are all tones, and finally, B to C is a semitone. Every major scale follows this pattern of tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. That's rule number four. Let's see how this pattern matches up with the D major scale. D to E is a tone, E to F sharp is a tone. and F sharp to G is a semitone. Then G to A, A to B, and B to C sharp are all tones, and C sharp to D is a semitone. Tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. A common test or assignment in music theory is to write out a major scale. Let's say you have to write out A major. First, write out the notes. Eight notes from A to A, and of course, double check your clef. Here, we're in bass clef. Next, write in the interval pattern beneath the notes. Tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. Even if you know it, write it in. It's easy to get lost in the middle and make a mistake without a reference. Then, follow the piano keyboard and add sharps or flats to the notes of the scale as needed. Here, we start on A and go up a tone. That's B natural. Then, up a tone from B is this one. We know that it has to be C sharp and not D flat, because otherwise we'd be skipping C. So, we add a sharp up here. Now, up a semitone from C sharp is D, and up another tone is E. Up a tone from E is this one, F sharp. So, we add a sharp to F. Then, up another tone from F sharp is G sharp, so we add a sharp to G. Finally, we go up a semitone from G sharp, and we've landed on A. If you get to the last note, and it's the same as the first note, in this case A, you've probably got it right. But, if you started on A and somehow ended on A sharp or something else unexpected, you must have made a mistake somewhere along the way, and you'll have to go back and correct it. You should know that some of these scales are slightly less intuitive than others. Consider C sharp major. We start out the same way. Write C sharp, then write in all eight notes. Then, write in the tone-tone-semitone pattern below the notes. Then start following the pattern on the keyboard. We start on C sharp and go up a tone to D sharp, then up another tone to this note, which looks like F but we know it has to be an E, so it must be E sharp. Continuing on, up a semitone to F sharp, up a tone to G sharp, up a tone to A sharp, up another tone to this note that looks like C but it needs to be called B, so we call it B sharp, before finally ending on C sharp. You may be wondering why E sharp and B sharp? Why not just write F and C? Because then the C sharp major scale would look like this. Doesn't that look sort of weird? There's two Fs and two Cs and there's no E or B. It might sound like a major scale, but it's not the usual way to write it down. And it breaks rule number three. While we're at it, it's also probably useful to review the term enharmonic equivalent. That's just a fancy term that refers to the fact that some notes have more than one name. They sound the same, but are spelled differently on the page. It's easy to see on the piano that this note can be either called F sharp or G flat, and this one could be called G sharp or A flat. In fact, all the black notes have two names. Some of the white notes have two names too. E and F are sometimes called E sharp and F flat, and B and C are sometimes called B sharp and C flat. What you call them depends on the context. And now for some common questions about major scales. Are there any scales that use a different interval pattern? Sure. The chromatic scale is all semitones. The whole tone scale is all tones. And there's lots of other scales with different patterns, but they aren't major scales. Anything other than tone tone semitone tone tone tone semitone is something else. If there's a C sharp and a D flat major, why is there an A flat major but not a G sharp major? That's right. C sharp major and D flat major are enharmonic equivalents. They sound the same on your instrument but are written differently on the page. The thing is, C sharp and D flat follow the rules, but G sharp major can't. Check it out. You start on G sharp and follow the pattern. Everything is fine until you get to this note, which is clearly a G but has to be called F. You'd have no choice but to call it F double sharp, and that's not allowed in major scales. Why? Because that's the secret fifth rule of scales. Every scale has sharp flat or natural notes, but no double sharps or double flats. And, because you asked, there are five other major scales that don't exist. They all have double sharps or double flats, and they're all ridiculous. What were all those weird chords from the beginning? G major, E major 7, D7 flat 9, C9 sharp 11. and B7 flat 9 sharp 11 flat 13. Is that last one a real chord? Yes. Why did I get the wrong answer? You probably mixed up the interval pattern. A common mistake is to skip the first tone. Let's say you're writing E major. You might say E is a tone, up a tone to F sharp, and then up a semitone to G. But you're already in trouble. Because you haven't gone tone, tone, semitone, you've used tone, semitone. Tone, tone, semitone looks like this. Remember, a tone or semitone is the distance between the notes, not the notes themselves. So how do I write a major scale? Write the note that's the name of the scale, write seven more notes, one in each line and space, write in the interval pattern, and add sharps and flats as necessary. And that's major scales. Be sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe for more videos. And check out the description for links to other useful videos.

Understanding major scales is crucial to success in tackling theoretical concepts such as intervals, key signatures, triads, tetrads, pentads, hexads, heptads, also known as chords, solfege with movable do, solfege with fixed do, minor scales, bebop scales. pentatonic scales, cadences, chord progressions, the circle of fifths, the circle of fourths, and modes. All of these things and more are better understood through major scales, so let's get started. There are 15 major scales.

Although they look very different at first glance, they're all built using the same few simple rules. Let's take a look at the easiest one, C major. Notice that the C major scale has eight notes. It starts and ends on the same note, in this case C, and every other letter name shows up just once. A, B, C to start and end the scale, D, E, F, and G.

These are the first three rules which every major scale must follow. Every major scale has eight notes, the same starting and ending note, and has every other note name once. Let's look at another scale, D major. It too has eight notes, starts and ends on the same note, and each other letter name shows up only once.

E flat major is the same. Eight notes, same note to start and end, and has all the other notes one time. But why do some scales have sharps and some have flats? And how do I know which sharps and flats to use? That has to do with the intervallic relationship between the notes of the scale.

Let's take a look at the piano keyboard for a better understanding of what that means. We've already seen what C major looks like on the staff. Here's what it looks like on the piano.

It's C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Notice that these notes were played, but these notes weren't. They were skipped. It's this pattern of played and skipped notes that make a major scale sound like a major scale. The pattern is defined by a series of tones and semitones between the notes. If you don't remember or are unfamiliar with tones and semitones, a semitone is the smallest interval on the piano.

It's the closest note to another note. It's sometimes called a half step. So C to C sharp is a semitone and C sharp to D is a semitone, as is D to D sharp and D sharp to E.

But what's a semitone above E? It's just the next note on the piano, in this case F. Of course, all these are semitones as well, as is B to C.

A tone is just two semitones. It's sometimes called a whole step or a whole tone. So C to D is a tone and C sharp to D sharp is a tone, as well as D to E.

But what about a tone above E? F sharp. That's a semitone from E to F, and a semitone from F to F sharp, and two semitones make a tone. Applying the concept of tones and semitones to the notes of C major, we see that from C to D is a tone, and from D to E is a tone, but E to F is only a semitone.

Then, F to G, G to A, and A to B are all tones, and finally, B to C is a semitone. Every major scale follows this pattern of tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. That's rule number four.

Let's see how this pattern matches up with the D major scale. D to E is a tone, E to F sharp is a tone. and F sharp to G is a semitone. Then G to A, A to B, and B to C sharp are all tones, and C sharp to D is a semitone. Tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone.

A common test or assignment in music theory is to write out a major scale. Let's say you have to write out A major. First, write out the notes.

Eight notes from A to A, and of course, double check your clef. Here, we're in bass clef. Next, write in the interval pattern beneath the notes. Tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone.

Even if you know it, write it in. It's easy to get lost in the middle and make a mistake without a reference. Then, follow the piano keyboard and add sharps or flats to the notes of the scale as needed.

Here, we start on A and go up a tone. That's B natural. Then, up a tone from B is this one.

We know that it has to be C sharp and not D flat, because otherwise we'd be skipping C. So, we add a sharp up here. Now, up a semitone from C sharp is D, and up another tone is E. Up a tone from E is this one, F sharp.

So, we add a sharp to F. Then, up another tone from F sharp is G sharp, so we add a sharp to G. Finally, we go up a semitone from G sharp, and we've landed on A.

If you get to the last note, and it's the same as the first note, in this case A, you've probably got it right. But, if you started on A and somehow ended on A sharp or something else unexpected, you must have made a mistake somewhere along the way, and you'll have to go back and correct it. You should know that some of these scales are slightly less intuitive than others.

Consider C sharp major. We start out the same way. Write C sharp, then write in all eight notes.

Then, write in the tone-tone-semitone pattern below the notes. Then start following the pattern on the keyboard. We start on C sharp and go up a tone to D sharp, then up another tone to this note, which looks like F but we know it has to be an E, so it must be E sharp. Continuing on, up a semitone to F sharp, up a tone to G sharp, up a tone to A sharp, up another tone to this note that looks like C but it needs to be called B, so we call it B sharp, before finally ending on C sharp.

You may be wondering why E sharp and B sharp? Why not just write F and C? Because then the C sharp major scale would look like this. Doesn't that look sort of weird? There's two Fs and two Cs and there's no E or B.

It might sound like a major scale, but it's not the usual way to write it down. And it breaks rule number three. While we're at it, it's also probably useful to review the term enharmonic equivalent. That's just a fancy term that refers to the fact that some notes have more than one name.

They sound the same, but are spelled differently on the page. It's easy to see on the piano that this note can be either called F sharp or G flat, and this one could be called G sharp or A flat. In fact, all the black notes have two names. Some of the white notes have two names too. E and F are sometimes called E sharp and F flat, and B and C are sometimes called B sharp and C flat.

What you call them depends on the context. And now for some common questions about major scales. Are there any scales that use a different interval pattern?

Sure. The chromatic scale is all semitones. The whole tone scale is all tones. And there's lots of other scales with different patterns, but they aren't major scales.

Anything other than tone tone semitone tone tone tone semitone is something else. If there's a C sharp and a D flat major, why is there an A flat major but not a G sharp major? That's right.

C sharp major and D flat major are enharmonic equivalents. They sound the same on your instrument but are written differently on the page. The thing is, C sharp and D flat follow the rules, but G sharp major can't.

Check it out. You start on G sharp and follow the pattern. Everything is fine until you get to this note, which is clearly a G but has to be called F.

You'd have no choice but to call it F double sharp, and that's not allowed in major scales. Why? Because that's the secret fifth rule of scales.

Every scale has sharp flat or natural notes, but no double sharps or double flats. And, because you asked, there are five other major scales that don't exist. They all have double sharps or double flats, and they're all ridiculous. What were all those weird chords from the beginning?

G major, E major 7, D7 flat 9, C9 sharp 11. and B7 flat 9 sharp 11 flat 13. Is that last one a real chord? Yes. Why did I get the wrong answer?

You probably mixed up the interval pattern. A common mistake is to skip the first tone. Let's say you're writing E major. You might say E is a tone, up a tone to F sharp, and then up a semitone to G.

But you're already in trouble. Because you haven't gone tone, tone, semitone, you've used tone, semitone. Tone, tone, semitone looks like this. Remember, a tone or semitone is the distance between the notes, not the notes themselves.

So how do I write a major scale? Write the note that's the name of the scale, write seven more notes, one in each line and space, write in the interval pattern, and add sharps and flats as necessary. And that's major scales.

Be sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe for more videos. And check out the description for links to other useful videos.

Transcript for:Understanding Major Scales in Music Theory

Transcript for:
Understanding Major Scales in Music Theory