The first mode of the major scale. Identical in pitch content to the major scale; the mode name is used when the scale is being treated as one of the seven rotations of the same set of notes rather than as a key.
Each degree of the scale, its note name in this key, and its distance from the root in semitones.
Degree
Note
Semitones
Interval from the root
1
C
0
Perfect unison
tonic
2
D
2
Major second
3
E
4
Major third
4
F
5
Perfect fourth
5
G
7
Perfect fifth
6
A
9
Major sixth
7
B
11
Major seventh
Positions on the guitar
The five windows below are computed, not copied from a shape chart. The script locates the lowest
occurrence of C on each of the five upper strings within the first twelve frets and takes a
five-fret window centred on it. Because a scale repeats every twelve frets, these five windows cover
the whole neck; the same sequence returns an octave higher. The positions are numbered from the lowest
fret upwards, so position 1 is always the window nearest the nut and position 5 the window nearest the
twelfth fret.
Position 1 — frets 0–3
Root on the 2nd string B3 at fret 1. 17 notes of the scale inside this window.
Read the grid as a chord diagram: the top row is the first string. Degrees appear in the
notes and degrees table above; a filled cell is a note of the scale, and the shaded cell is the tonic.
Related keys and modes
ParentParent major scaleC major contains the same seven notes, with the tonic on a different degree
Mode/KeyD doriansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyE phrygiansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyF lydiansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyG mixolydiansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyA aeoliansame parent scale, different tonic
Mode/KeyB locriansame parent scale, different tonic
RelativeRelative minorA natural minor uses the same notes