The seven-note diatonic scale the tonal system is built on. Its step pattern is whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. The Ionian mode is identical in pitch content.
The reference scale for Western harmony; every key signature on this site is derived from a major scale.
Notes and degrees
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
RelativeRelative minorA natural minor uses the same notes