Major Scale

One of the basic theories that you have to know for playing music is the Major Scale. The Major scale is one of the diatonic scales (a scale with 7 intervals on an octave) which has the following pattern based on the range of the interval:

whole:whole:half:whole:whole:whole:half

A “whole” interval means 2 “half” intervals. A half interval is the smallest interval on a basic music instrument (guitar of piano). Using a guitar, a half interval is the interval between 2 adjacent frets. Using a piano, a half interval is the interval between 2 adjacent and closest note. If you use the C note, than the half interval is the B note (half interval lower than C) and the C# note (half interval higher than C). Remember, there are 2 intervals for a note. The higher interval and the lower interval.

For example:

If you play on a C scale, then the notes on a major scale are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. On a piano, these notes would be all “white” notes. Therefore playing on C scale is considered the easiest scale to play. If you play it on a D scale, then the notes you must play are D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D (count it if you want and you will see this uses the same major scale pattern as above). In this scale, you will press 2 “black” notes in it.

On a guitar, you can count these scales based on the interval. For a whole interval you should skip one fret and for a half interval you should play on the adjecent fret of the current note. Because you can use a counting method on a guitar, none of the scales are considered easier than the others, because they are basically the same.

Hope this blog can explain and helps you a little but about the major scale.