The Major Scale
The major scale is a series of 8 notes in alphabetical order that has the familiar sound:
Thus the C major scale contains the following notes.
The distance between each note is two frets except for EF and BC where the distance is only one fret. A distance of two frets is a tone, indicated by T. A distance of one fret is a semitone, indicated by ST.
The following example demonstrates one octave of the C major scale.
The diagram below shows all the natural notes in the open position. They are all notes of the C major scale, even though the lowest note of the pattern is E and the highest note is G. The key note C occurs twice and is indicated with a square around it. This pattern can be described as the full open position fingering of the C major scale. These notes have been used to play thousands of melodies ranging from Classical music to Folk and Country, to Jazz, to classic Rock songs.
C Major Scale in Open Position
The following example demonstrates a melody created from the C major scale. Once you have memorized the fingering for the scale, experiment with it and create some of your own melodies.
Once you know the pattern of tones and semitones used to create the C major scale, you can build a major scale on any of the twelve notes used in music. It is important to memorize this pattern:
The semitones are always found between the 3rd and 4th, and 7th and 8th degrees (notes) of the scale. All the other notes are a tone apart.
