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C Major Scale for Beginners: Lesson 1

 
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What is the C major scale?


A scale is a very specific pattern of notes that is used to create the
basic building blocks of music: melody and harmony. In order to build a scale from the intervals of the octave we need a formula. The major scale formula is derived from the nature of the overtone series and is:


1st note, whole step, 2nd note, whole step, 3rd note, half step, 4th note,
whole step, 5th note, whole step, 6th note, whole step, 7th note, half step,
8th note (which is one octave higher than the first note).


This formula produces the very familiar sound we associate with the solfege syllables: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do. Let's use this idea to play a C major scale. We start with the note C on the A string, 3rd fret. Therefore the note C is the 1st note of the scale (the "1st scale degree"). We move up a whole step (or two half steps) to the 5th fret and this will be the 2nd note of the C major scale (the "2nd scale degree"). This note happens to be a D. Follow the scale formula and we wind up with this pattern of notes:


C - whole step - D - whole step - E - half step - F - whole step - G - whole step - A - whole step - B - half step - C


On a guitar this can be played as such (see image below):

Instructor Christopher Schlegel
Tutorial:
C Major Scale for Beginners
Styles:
Any Style
Difficulty:
print notation download lesson open guitar tuner
C Major Scale for Beginners: Lesson 1 song notation

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Questions & Answers

1 year ago
Hello, I received your answer to my previous question about the perfect 5th and how 4 1/2 steps is the same as 7 half steps. However, there is the aspect of ratios and how lower tones vibrate less than higher tones. Is this related to the concept of steps? You talked about how the frets and how they serve to shorten the neck, resulting in higher tones etc. Perhaps the ratios and the intervals have a different relationship?
ChristopherSchlegel 1 year ago

Low pitches (tones) are low because they are literally slower vibrations. Conversely, higher pitches are faster vibrations. The frequency of a pitch is a sound wave measured in Hertz (wavelength cycles per second). The low E string is about 82 Hz. The E an octave higher at the 12th fret is double that at about 164Hz. That's why the 12th fret is half the string length. The distance between the frets gets smaller as the pitches go higher because sound waves rise logarithmically. If they rose linearly then the frets would be the same distance apart. But in order to make each fret a musical interval of a half-step you have to use a logarithmic sequence that results in equal temperament tuning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_equal_temperament Hope that helps!