The major scale, step by step

What a scale is

A scale is a set of notes in step order, from a starting note up to the same note an octave higher. The starting note is the tonic and gives the scale its name. Play C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C on the white keys, one letter after the next, and you have played one: the C major scale.

Many of the melodies you know are built on the major scale. What makes it major is not its first note but the distances between its notes.

The pattern: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half

A half step, or semitone, goes from one key to the very next key, black or white. A whole step, or tone, is two half steps: it skips one key. From the tonic, a major scale climbs in this order: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half, often written W-W-H-W-W-W-H.

Check it on C. C to D and D to E are whole steps, with a black key in each gap. E to F is a half step, with no black key between. F to G, G to A and A to B are whole steps, and B to C is a half step again. The two half steps fall exactly where white keys touch with no black key between them, which is why C major needs only the white keys.

G major, F major and key signatures

Start the pattern on G. From G up to E the white keys fit: whole, whole, half, whole, whole. The sixth step, from E, must be a whole step too, and it lands on the black key just above F: F sharp. A half step then takes you home to G. G major is G, A, B, C, D, E, F♯, G, with one sharp.

On F, the third step must be a half step, from A to the black key just above it. A major scale uses each letter once, and this one already has an A, so that key is B flat, not A sharp. F major is F, G, A, B♭, C, D, E, F, with one flat.

Rather than a sharp before every F, music in G major uses a key signature: the sharps or flats of the key, written once at the start of each line, just after the clef. They apply to every note with that letter, in every octave, unless a natural sign cancels one for the rest of a bar. G major's key signature is one sharp, F♯, on the top line of the treble staff; F major's is one flat, B♭, on the middle line. C major has none.

Scale degrees and do-re-mi

Musicians number the notes of a scale from the tonic: in C major, C is degree 1, D is 2, E is 3, up to 8, the tonic an octave higher. Numbers do not depend on the key: in every major scale the half steps fall between degrees 3 and 4 and between 7 and 8, E-F and B-C in C major, B-C and F♯-G in G major.

The syllables do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do name the same eight degrees, so singing them from any note gives the major scale pattern, with the half steps from mi to fa and from ti to do. In France, Italy and Spain they are fixed note names instead, with do always on C and si for ti; the Do Ré Mi labels on the piano below use those.

Fingering: the thumb passes under

Five fingers, eight notes from C to C: the hand has to travel along the keys without a break in the sound. Counting the thumb as 1 and the little finger as 5, the right hand plays C, D and E with 1, 2 and 3. While finger 3 holds E, tuck the thumb under the hand onto F and carry on with 2, 3, 4 and 5 up to C: 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5. Move the thumb early, so it is already near F when you need it.

Coming down, the same keys keep the same fingers: 5-4-3-2-1 from C to F, then finger 3 crosses over the thumb onto E and the scale ends 3-2-1. The left hand is the mirror image. Going up it plays 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1: the little finger starts on C, the thumb reaches G, and finger 3 crosses over it onto A. Coming down it plays 1-2-3, then the thumb passes under onto G for 1-2-3-4-5.

Practise: C major up and down

The exercise below asks for C major from middle C to the next C and back: fifteen notes, names on the keys, the next one in green. Press Listen once, then Start. Each note you play is written on the staff, so you can watch the scale climb line, space, line, space from middle C.

On a real keyboard, use the fingering from this lesson and say the finger numbers aloud; with a mouse or a computer keyboard, say the note names instead. When you can play the scale with no wrong key, try it with the left hand, then move on to chords: they are built from the notes of this scale.