Major scale

In music theory, the major scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher.

The simplest major scale is C major (figure 1), the only major scale not to require sharps or flats on the musical staff and consequently uses only the white keys on the piano keyboard:

Listen to the C major scale.

When writing out major (and minor) scales, no line or space on the stave can be skipped, and no note can be repeated with a different accidental. This has the effect of forcing the key signature to feature just sharps or just flats; ordinary major scales never include both.

In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti (or Si) (and Do)."

The major scale is the same as the Ionian mode.

Constructing major scales

To construct any major scale, start with your chosen note (which can be a white or black key on a piano) for the root or starting note; this will be your tonic. Then move up in pitch two notes (counting each white and each black key as one note). This is referred to as a whole step, and will be the second note of the scale, or the supertonic. Move up again two notes, this is the third note of the scale, or the mediant. Next move up one note, this will be the fourth note of the scale, or the subdominant. Move up again two notes, this will be the fifth note of the scale, or the dominant. Move up again two notes for the sixth note or submediant of the scale, up again two notes for the seventh note or leading tone of the scale, and finally up one note for the eighth note or octave (which is the same as the tonic). This is commonly shown as:

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8
  W – W – H – W – W – W – H

Above, W means "whole step" or "whole tone", which is simply moving up two notes; and H means "half step" or "semitone", which is simply moving up one note. These "steps" in the order shown are how you construct every major scale in western music. The C major scale has no sharps or flats. If you look at a keyboard, you can see that the distance from C to D is two notes, if you count the black key in between them. The distance from D to E is two notes, also counting the black note between them. Then from E to F is only up one note. Therefore, if you wanted to construct the D major scale, you would start by moving up from D to E (two notes) and then from E to F♯ (again two notes) and then from F♯ to G (one note) just exactly the way you did in the C major scale; two whole steps, then a half step. This would be followed by three more whole steps and a half step to complete the D major scale. You use these steps for every major scale: W – W – H – W – W – W – H

Analyzing scales with sharps

Scales and key signatures are closely linked in music. It is necessary to construct a key signature – consisting of a number of sharps or flats – in order to know which notes a particular major scale will have. An easy, but time consuming, way to do this would be to use the pattern of tone/tone/semitone/etc… given above. If we choose to write the scale of D-major, we know immediately that the scale begins on a D. The next note will be a tone above – an E. The note after that will also be a tone above, however it is not simply an F as would seem obvious; because the difference between an E and an F is actually a semitone (look on a piano keyboard, there is no 'black note' in-between them), it is necessary to raise the F so that it becomes an F♯ to achieve a difference of a whole tone.

This could be followed to create a whole scale, with all the sharps (or with a different scale, flats) put correctly in. However an easier way of constructing scales arises from analyzing patterns in the whole series of major scales. Starting with the scale of C major, there exist no sharps or flats. If you start a new scale on the 5th of C major – G major – you will find one sharp, augmenting the F. Starting the scale on the 5th of G major (a D), it will be necessary to put 2 sharps in – an F♯ and a C♯. Writing this pattern out for all the scales looks like this:

C  maj – 0 sharps
G  maj – 1 sharp  – F♯
D  maj – 2 sharps – F♯, C♯ 
A  maj – 3 sharps – F♯, C♯, G♯
E  maj – 4 sharps – F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯
B  maj – 5 sharps – F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯
F♯  maj – 6 sharps – F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯

In this table it can be seen that for each new scale (starting on the fifth of the previous scale) it is necessary to add a new sharp. The order of sharps which need to be added follows: F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯

Analyzing major scales with flats

A similar table can be constructed for major scales with flats in them. In this case each new scale starts on the 5th below (or a 4th above) the previous one. A way to remember what key you are in is to look at the penultimate flat.

C  maj – 0 flats
F  maj – 1 flat  – B♭
B♭ maj – 2 flats – B♭, E♭
E♭ maj – 3 flats – B♭, E♭, A♭
A♭ maj – 4 flats – B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭
D♭ maj – 5 flats – B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭
G♭ maj – 6 flats – B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭

Here, a similar pattern can be recognized; each new scale keeps all the flats of the previous scale but adds a new one in the order: B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭. Interestingly this is the direct inverse of the pattern of sharps given above.

The circle of fifths

The information gathered from analyzing scales can be used in constructing the circle of fifths:

This is a useful way of finding key signatures of major scales. Starting clockwise from the top C each new letter represents a new scale, a fifth above the one before it. This means that each new scale (clockwise) requires an extra sharp to be added to its key signature. The exact sharps to be added are found by reading off the letters starting from the F (to the left of the C). For example, if we needed to know how many, and which, sharps a scale of E major requires, we note that E is at position 4 – it requires 4 sharps. These sharps are (reading off from F): F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯. If you were faced with a major scale with a key signature of 5 sharps, you would count off 5 from the top to arrive at B – it is the scale of B major.

Fig 2. The B major scale

Similarly, key signatures with flats can be created. Each new letter starting from F represents a new scale, and the position of the letter indicates how many flats it has. The actual flats are read anticlockwise from the B♭ on position 2. B♭ is on position 2, so it has 2 flats: B♭ and E♭.

Note names

Each of the eight notes in a scale has a name:

• 1st note – Tonic
• 2nd note – Supertonic
• 3rd note – Mediant
• 4th note – Subdominant
• 5th note – Dominant
• 6th note – Submediant
• 7th note – Leading Tone (or Leading Note)
• 8th note – Tonic

Harmonic properties

The major scale may predominate because of its unique harmonic properties. It allows:

• three-part major or minor chords, both stable and consonant, on every scale degree but the seventh
• a diminished fifth within the seventh chord built on the fifth degree, the dominant
• motion by a minor second from the leading tone to the tonic
• root motion by perfect fifths, the strongest root motion, from nearly every degree in either direction, the two exceptions being up a perfect fifth from the seventh degree, and down a perfect fifth from the fourth degree
• the first six notes of the harmonic series provide a consonant major chord, the fourth to sixth of which form a major triad, and seven of the nine notes between the 8th and 16th harmonics (the 7th and 15th overtones) are notes in the major scale in just intonation

Difference between major and minor

See major and minor.

External links

• Proper fingering of the major and minor scales on the piano
• Listen to and download harmonised Major scale piano MP3s
• The major and pentatonic scales on the guitar in several positions
• The major scale for guitar in one position, with derivation