Now let's look at scales. A scale is a set of notes, played in order from low to high, built from a pattern of steps. A piece of music usually takes most of its notes from one scale. Often when scales are explained to a complete beginner, they seem kind of random and hard to decipher. Instead of simply telling you all the scales and their rules, let's derive them from a logical pattern.
The most basic scale is the , which we already know, since it is simply the complete set of notes in order. The note a scale starts on is called the root (or root note): the note the scale is built on and named after. Let's start with C, and then continue with the other notes in order, but any note can be the root.
For most scales, the root is also the scale's home: a melody built from the scale sounds finished when it comes back to it.
The recipe for this scale is simple: go through all notes a half step at a time. (Some books say 'semitone' for half step and 'tone' for whole step. These are just different names for the same thing.) Since each of the twelve notes is a half step apart, the recipe simply means that we go through the notes in order, one after the other.
The chromatic scale is the basis of all other scales, as it contains all notes. It's not very musical though, as it is not distinctive in how it sounds.
One of the most common scales is the major scale: seven notes with a bright, happy sound. The simplest major scale is the C major scale. It consists of all natural notes, leaving out the notes. So from all notes...
...we just keep the natural notes. When you spell out (or play) a scale from bottom to top, you normally include the root again at the , so the C major scale is:
If we want to come up with a recipe using steps like we did for the chromatic scale, we would say: From the start, take a whole step, which takes us from C to D, jumping over C♯, another whole step to E, then a half step to F. Here we can only take a half step, because there is no accidental note between E and F, and we want the next natural note. Then we take another whole step to G, another whole step to A, one more whole step to B, and finally a half step to get back to C. As before, W stands for whole step and H for half step. So the recipe for the C major scale is:
The recipe is crucial to derive a major scale from any note we choose as the root. For example, if we want the A major scale, we start with the chromatic scale starting at A.
Now we apply the pattern to derive the scale. From A, we take a whole step, jumping to B, another whole step to C♯, a half step to D, a whole step to E, a whole step to F♯, a whole step to G♯, and finally a half step back to A.
The A major scale consists of the notes A, B, C♯, D, E, F♯, G♯. The pattern is the same for all major scales, regardless of the root. But depending on what note we start on, the resulting notes are different. That's why the A major scale is not just a different order of the notes in the C major scale, but a different set of notes.
When we covered notes, we saw that all accidentals have two names. In a seven-note scale like the major scale, we use every letter exactly once, so we pick the accidental names that make that work. If we used flat names in the A major scale, the letters A and D would each appear twice (A and A♭, D♭ and D), while C and F would be missing. The A at the top is just the octave, so it doesn't count. Therefore we use the sharp names instead.
On other major scales we have to use flat names, for example in the F major scale, where we have B♭ instead of A♯. A few scales even need the unusual names you saw in the notes chapter, like C♭: F♯ major uses E♯ (the same piano key as F), and G♭ major uses C♭ (the same piano key as B), because the letters F and B are needed there.
When we form all major scales, it becomes clear that the C major scale is the only major scale that contains only natural notes.
How many sharps or flats each major scale has follows a simple pattern. We'll look at it in the Keys chapter.
Next: Minor Scales