{"id":4,"date":"2011-05-01T20:00:42","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T03:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/?p=4"},"modified":"2011-05-29T20:12:54","modified_gmt":"2011-05-30T03:12:54","slug":"major-scale-intro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/4\/major-scale-intro\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Scale Intro"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are basically 12 notes in music.\u00a0 So all modern music is based out of those 12 notes.\u00a0 All scales are born out of those 12 notes as well.\u00a0 These 12 notes are part of the chromatic scale.\u00a0 It would be safe to say that all the scales in western or modern music are born out of the chromatic scale as it contains all the notes these scales use.\u00a0 It\u2019s as simple as applying a specific formula to the chromatic scale and you get the resulting scale.\u00a0 More on that soon\u2026\u00a0 But first\u2026<\/p>\n

The major scale is the first scale you should learn.\u00a0 It may not necessarily be the most used scale as far a guitar solos go, but it\u2019s definitely vital.\u00a0 The major scale serves a very important relationship with most other scales and is the basis for an endless number of songs.<\/p>\n

The major scale is the basic DO – RE – MI – FA- SOL- LA- SI – DO that you probably learned in school.\u00a0 The important part is that now you must understand where it comes from and why.\u00a0 Usually, I find that understanding how and why something works is the best way to remember how to use it.<\/p>\n

The major scale has 7 notes.\u00a0 Now we must take a look at those 12 notes of the chromatic scale I mentioned earlier.\u00a0 This is how the chromatic scale looks:<\/p>\n

\"Chromatic<\/p>\n

Notice that there are only 12 notes.\u00a0 If you counted 13 it\u2019s because you counted the last C.\u00a0 Don\u2019t count that one as it is simply another C like the first one only an octave up in tone.\u00a0 An\u00a0Octave <\/strong>is an area of sound where the notes or pitches lie in.\u00a0 Every time you go from the beginning note of the scale to the last you\u2019ve gone up an octave.\u00a0 So basically, the first C is one octave below the final C and so on.<\/p>\n

Between each of the notes in the chromatic scale there is a half step.\u00a0 A half step is the smallest unit of space from one pitch to another.\u00a0 In guitar terms it would be 1 fret.\u00a0 You can also notice in the diagram above that between each\u00a0Natural<\/strong> note (notes that do not contain sharps\u00a0#<\/strong> or flats\u00a0b<\/strong>) there is a sharp\/flat note. These notes are calles\u00a0Accidentals<\/strong>. Why? I don’t know. Some dude, probably thought they came by accident! These notes, although named differently, such as C#\/Db or D#\/Eb are basically the same. In other words C# and Db are the same note and D# and Eb are the same note.\u00a0 And F# and Gb are also the same note.\u00a0 Don\u2019t forget that between E and F as well as between B and C there are no sharp or flat notes because there is only a half step between these notes.\u00a0 There are instances where a note may be called Cb, Fb or E# although technically they don\u2019t exist, but that goes way beyond the scope of this lesson.\u00a0 So don\u2019t worry about this right now.<\/p>\n

The main difference between the chromatic scale and all other scales is that the chromatic scale has all the notes because each step is of the smallest possible.\u00a0 All other scales use a different combination, or formula, of half and whole steps to pick out the notes.\u00a0 It\u2019s as simple as picking the notes out of the chromatic scale in order skipping or picking notes according to the formula.\u00a0 The formula for the major scale is this:<\/p>\n

W – W – H – W – W – W – H<\/strong><\/p>\n

This means, whole step, whole step, half step and so on.\u00a0 So all you have to is go through the chromatic scale starting on whichever note you\u2019d like and going from one note to the next while either picking up the next note in line or skipping to the next according to the formula.\u00a0 If the formula shows a W then you skip from one note to the next because you need to move one whole step.\u00a0 In other words, 2 half steps or 2 frets.<\/p>\n

If you start on\u00a0C<\/strong>, and jump one whole step (jump over C#\/Db) the next note is\u00a0D<\/strong>.\u00a0 Then jump another whole step and you\u2019re on\u00a0E<\/strong>.\u00a0 Now the formula calls for a half step, so no skipping, and this brings you to\u00a0F<\/strong>.\u00a0 Then we have to jump another whole step to\u00a0G <\/strong>and another whole step to\u00a0A <\/strong>and then the last whole step in the formula takes you to\u00a0B<\/strong>.\u00a0 The last half step you see in the formula will make you connect the first note of the scale to the same note one octave up, and that would be\u00a0C<\/strong> again.<\/p>\n

And there you have it!\u00a0 The major scale in C:\u00a0\u00a0C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C<\/strong><\/p>\n

To give you an idea, this is how applying the formula looks:<\/p>\n

\"C<\/a><\/p>\n

If you do this with all the notes of the chromatic scale you will get 1 set of notes per each key or root note.\u00a0 To give you an example, if you start in G you\u2019ll get this set of notes:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

G – A – B – C – D – E \u2013 F# – G<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Take a look at the following diagram to see same G Major Scale in Tab. It’s played on only one string starting on an open G and ending on the G of the 12 fret.<\/p>\n

\"Tab<\/p>\n

The tab above can be also called, the\u00a0Ionian Mode<\/strong> which is nothing more than the major scale. The Ionian mode is the first mode or position of the major scale. Once this begins to sink in, you can move on to learn the seven modes of the major scale. One for every note of the scale.<\/p>\n

This may seem a bit confusing at first but don\u2019t freak out.\u00a0 It\u2019s not as hard as it seems.\u00a0 Put some time on learning this and when you start understanding it you\u2019ll notice how important it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are basically 12 notes in music.\u00a0 So all modern music is based out of those 12 notes.\u00a0 All scales are born out of those 12 notes as well.\u00a0 These 12 notes are part of the chromatic scale.\u00a0 It would be safe to say that all the scales in western or modern music are born…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[5,4,6,7],"yoast_head":"\nMajor Scale Intro - SixStringSensei<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/4\/major-scale-intro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Major Scale Intro - SixStringSensei\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are basically 12 notes in music.\u00a0 So all modern music is based out of those 12 notes.\u00a0 All scales are born out of those 12 notes as well.\u00a0 These 12 notes are part of the chromatic scale.\u00a0 It would be safe to say that all the scales in western or modern music are born...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/4\/major-scale-intro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SixStringSensei\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sixstringsensei\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-02T03:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-30T03:12:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/chromatic_scale.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Danny Cruz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sixstringsensei\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sixstringsensei\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Danny Cruz\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/4\/major-scale-intro\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/4\/major-scale-intro\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Danny Cruz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e7ed82d254a640f1765dfc67d6bbdbe2\"},\"headline\":\"Major Scale Intro\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-02T03:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-30T03:12:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/4\/major-scale-intro\/\"},\"wordCount\":1019,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/4\/major-scale-intro\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/chromatic_scale.gif\",\"keywords\":[\"guitar\",\"lessons\",\"major scale\",\"theory\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lessons\",\"Major Scale\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/4\/major-scale-intro\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sixstringsensei.com\/4\/major-scale-intro\/\",\"name\":\"Major Scale Intro - 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