The Major Scale

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Chapter 4 · Lesson 01

In short

The major scale is a series of eight notes built on a fixed pattern of tones and semitones: T-T-S-T-T-T-S. That pattern gives it its bright, happy colour.

Lesson Notes

In the chapter on intervals we saw that every step between two notes has a size. A scale is nothing more than a series of notes built step by step, with specific intervals between them.

01What a scale is

A scale is a series of notes that starts on one note and reaches its octave, climbing in fixed steps. Each step has a specific size, and the order of those sizes determines the scale's character.

The best-known scale in Western music is the major scale. You recognize it instantly: it is the scale that sounds bright and happy, the one we sing as "Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do".

02The pattern of tones and semitones

The major scale always follows the same pattern: Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone, in short T-T-S-T-T-T-S (in American terms, W-W-H-W-W-W-H). The two semitones always fall in the same place: between the 3rd and 4th degree, and between the 7th and 8th degree.

C major and its steps

The T-T-S-T-T-T-S pattern of C major. The semitones (S) fall between E-F (3rd→4th degree) and B-C (7th→8th degree).

03Why it is called major

The name "major" comes from the scale's characteristic interval. If you count from the 1st to the 3rd note (tonic to mediant), you find a major third, spanning two tones. That interval, the major third, is what gives the major scale its "open", bright sound.

The minor scale, by contrast, has a minor third from the tonic, which is why it sounds darker. We will look at that difference in detail in the next lesson.

04The same scale from another note

The T-T-S-T-T-T-S pattern stays exactly the same wherever you start. If you want to play a major scale from G, you follow the same pattern. Only now the 7th step (between the 6th and 7th degree) needs a tone, and that means F has to become F♯. Without the accidental, the pattern would break and the scale would not sound major.

G major keeps the same pattern

To keep the same T-T-S-T-T-T-S pattern, G major needs an F♯.

Recap

A scale is a series of notes from one note to its octave, in fixed steps.
The major scale follows the pattern T-T-S-T-T-T-S.
The two semitones always fall 3rd→4th and 7th→8th degree.
Its bright sound comes from the major third between the 1st and 3rd degree.
The pattern stays the same from any note, but accidentals are often needed (e.g. F♯ in G major).