Introduction to Major scale
Major scale and its construction
Major scale and its construction
In this lesson we are going to look at how the major scale is constructed. And we will try to do some exercises with it.
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Contents of the lesson
What is a scale ?
Major scale construction
Forming one string major scales
Exercises
References
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What is a scale ?
A scale is a series of notes with various combinations of half steps, whole steps, or other intervals. There are many possible combinations of notes which can create many different types of scales. Undoubtedly the most common scale in "classical music" is the major scale. The most familiar of all is the C major scale which begins on C and uses only the white keys on the piano as it progresses up and down the musical alphabet.
Major scale construction
All music theory begins with the “1, 2, 3” or “do, re, mi” of a major scale. Everything, even other scales that have nothing to do with the major scale, gets named in relationship to it. Therefore it’s essential that you understand how to construct a major scale as your first step in understanding music theory. The major scale is constructed using whole and half-steps. A whole step = 2 half-steps, and a half step is simply the distance between 2 adjacent notes.
The formula for creating a major scale is “whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. This means if we start on c, we must go up 2 adjacent notes to get to the next note, which is d. That’s the first “whole” and let’s follow the whole formula through:
Now with this formula you can build any major scale, all you have to remember is to follow the formula. Try to form the G major scale with the formula below :
G w w h w w w h G
Forming one string major scales
Now you can use the major scale formula to find the c major scale horizontally on every string :
Once you get used to the pattern you can start playing them with a metronome and then move on to finding other keys. The same formula and shape will work when you search for other key centers. It is very important to get an understanding of the one string major scale in all 12 keys to get a good understanding of the neck and get better at recognising the notes all over the neck. You can follow finger patterns like 13 12 or 124 to play the scales.This will also help you in understanding how a major scale sounds and how you can do it to create melodies as we move forward.
Exercises
Write down all notes of the major scales for all the natural keys using the major scale formula :
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Degree
1st
Tonic
2nd
Supertonic
3rd
Mediant
4th
Subdominant
5th
Dominant
6th
Submediant
7th
Leading tone
2
C major scale
C
D
E
F
G
A
B
3
D Major scale
D
4
E Major scale
E
5
F Major scale
F
6
G Major scale
G
7
A Major scale
A
8
B Major scale
B
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Once you have written the notes down, now it’s time to plot the scales on each string. Be sure of the notes you are playing while doing the exercise. The pattern might help you find the notes but it is also important to know the names of the notes you are playing as well. Once you have gone through the natural note you can do the same exercises with the accidental notes.
References
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