Major scale

The seven-note scale built from the pattern of whole steps and half steps that gives the familiar do-re-mi sound.

The major scale is the reference point for almost all Western music theory: chords, intervals, modes and key signatures are all described by their relationship to it. Its pattern is two whole steps, a half step, three whole steps and a half step, and that arrangement is what produces a semitone between the seventh degree and the octave, the pull that makes a melody feel finished. On guitar it maps into a handful of overlapping shapes across the neck.

Example: In C major the notes are C, D, E, F, G, A and B, with a half step between E and F and between B and C.

Major scale

See also