The major scale
→ Build a major scale from any note on one string
The chords in a song are drawn from a scale. Learn the one pattern behind every major scale and you can build the raw material of any key on a single string.
One pattern of steps
A major scale is eight notes, from a starting note up to the same note an octave higher. The distances between them always follow one pattern: tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone. Written short, that is T T S T T T S. Start on C and the pattern gives C D E F G A B C, with no sharps or flats, because the semitones land exactly on E–F and B–C.[1][2]
Starting somewhere else
Start the same pattern on G and walk it up the G string's frets: G, A, B, C, D, E, then a tone from E lands on F♯, and a semitone takes you back to G. The pattern forced a sharp in. That sharp is what makes G major sound like G major. Every major scale has its own set of sharps or flats, and the pattern tells you which ones.[1][3]
New words
- Scale
- A set of notes played in order, from a starting note up to its octave.
- Major scale
- A scale that follows the steps T T S T T T S.
Remember
Every major scale follows the same steps: T T S T T T S.
Practice: Build G major on one string
- Play the open G string and say “G”.
- Follow T T S T T T S up the frets: 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12.
- Name each note as you play it and check that the seventh one is F♯.
- Now start on the open D string and find which notes need a sharp.
Check yourself
from memory, without looking back- Which pattern of steps does every major scale follow?
- What is the seventh note of the G major scale?
- How many frets make a tone on one string?review
Read next
musictheory.net — LessonsRicci Adams · siteShort, free interactive lessons. The pages on steps, accidentals and scales match the first Lessons.find it ↗
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