A scale in music is just a set of notes played in order.
On piano, we usually start you with the C major scale.
Play all the white notes from C to C, one at a time, in order.
That’s the C major scale.
It’s the “C” scale because it starts and ends on C.
It’s the “major” scale because it follows a specific pattern of half steps and whole steps.
T = Tonic (the note you start from)
W = Whole Step
H = Half Step
T
W
W
H
W
W
W
H
There are 12 notes in music. You can build a major scale from each note. Using the code, here are all 12 major scales:
| Tonic | Whole Step | Whole Step | Half Step | Whole Step | Whole Step | Whole Step | Half Step |
| C | D | E | F | G | A | B | C |
| G | A | B | C | D | E | F# | G |
| D | E | F# | G | A | B | C# | D |
| A | B | C# | D | E | F# | G# | A |
| E | F# | G# | A | B | C# | D# | E |
| B | C# | D# | E | F# | G# | A# | B |
| Gb | Ab | Bb | Cb | Db | Eb | F | Gb |
| Db | Eb | F | Gb | Ab | Bb | C | Db |
| Ab | Bb | C | Db | Eb | F | G | Ab |
| Eb | F | G | Ab | Bb | C | D | Eb |
| Bb | C | D | Eb | F | G | A | Bb |
| F | G | A | Bb | C | D | E | F |
Here are a few interesting facts about the patterns of these scales:
- We’re going in order of 5ths, starting with C.
- What’s the 5th note in the C scale? G. So the next scale is G.
- This concept is called the “circle of 5ths”
- We go in this order for a bunch of reasons which will become clear to you later on.
- If we go in the order of 5ths, then:
- Each new scale adds one sharp, until we get to Gb (with 6 flats), and then we reduce the number of flats until we are back to 0.
- (C has 0 sharps. G has 1 sharp. D has 2 sharps. etc.)
- The first four notes of the new scale are the same as the last four notes of the last scale.
- (C major ends with GABC. G major begins with GABC.)
- Each new scale adds one sharp, until we get to Gb (with 6 flats), and then we reduce the number of flats until we are back to 0.