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→The Major Scale
== The Major Scale ==
The ''major scale'' is composed of the following whole/half step pattern: (w w h w w w h). So we start on the root, note. We add +1 whole stepto get the 2nd note, another +1 whole stepfor the 3rd note, +1 half stepfor the 4th, +1 whole stepfor 5th, +1 whole stepfor 6th, and +1 whole stepfor the 7th. Another +1 half step gets us to the octave of the root note(the octave is the 8th note in the common 7 note scales). In other wordsAgain, that's 2 whole steps, a 1 half step, 3 whole steps, and a another half step. Below is the chromatic scale starting on C, then the C Major scale. The h's represent half steps (semi-tones) and the w's represent whole steps. The chromatic scale consists of 12 semi-tones.
|-h|-h|-h|-h|-h|-h|-h|-h|-h|-h|-h|-h|
Notice how C Major has no sharp/flat notes. Again, this is just a naming convention to simplify things. C Major is usually the first key learned on any instrument. On a piano, it represents the white keys (no black keys). Some instruments are designed around C Major. Guitar, unlike piano, is very key-neutral. It is equally simple to play in C Major as any other key.
Each major scale has the same quality as every other. C Major will sound like C# Major will sound like A Major; they just start on different notes. It doesn't matter that C Major has no sharps or flats while C# Major is all sharps (C# D# E# F# G# A# B#) and A Major has 3 sharps (A B C# D E F# G#). What matters is the whole-tone/semi-tone relationships between notes:
|--w--|--w--|-h|--w--|--w--|--w--|-h|
C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C#
A B C# D E F# G# A
This explains why there is a half step between B/C and E/F unlike all the other notes which are separated by a whole step. Labeling them this way causes the key of C major to have no flats/sharps.
== Analysis of the Major Scale ==