The Major Scale
Whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. Start that pattern on any key and you get the brightest scale in music — and a name for every step.
Builds on: 0.2 The Twelve Notes
Seven out of twelve
Twelve semitones is too many for a tune to live in at once. Almost every melody you know picks a subset of seven and stays there — a scale. The most important subset by far is the major scale, and it is defined not by its notes but by its pattern of steps: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half. Play the white keys from C to C and you get it for free: C–D is a whole step (a black key between), D–E whole, E–F half (no black key), F–G whole, G–A whole, A–B whole, B–C half. The two natural semitones of Unit 0 fall exactly where the pattern wants them.
Any root will do
Start the same pattern on G and you need G A B C D E F♯ G: the seventh note must be raised to keep the last step a half step. Start on F and you need a B♭ to keep the fourth step a half step. This is why sharps and flats exist: they let the pattern be transported to every one of the twelve roots, giving twelve major scales that all sound the same shape at different heights. The particular set of sharps or flats a scale needs is its key signature — the subject of lesson 2.3.
Every degree has a job
The seven notes are numbered 1 to 7 — the scale degrees — and each has a name describing its role:
- 1 tonic — home. Melodies end here.
- 2 supertonic — the step above home.
- 3 mediant — halfway to the fifth; decides major vs minor.
- 4 subdominant — a fifth below the tonic.
- 5 dominant — a fifth above; the strongest pull back to 1.
- 6 submediant — halfway down to the subdominant.
- 7 leading tone — a half step under home, aching to resolve.
Singers use syllables instead: do re mi fa sol la ti do. Both systems are movable — “do” and “tonic” are whatever note you start on — which is exactly what makes them useful for hearing.
The half step from 7 up to 8 is the scale’s engine. Play C major and stop on B: the ear demands the C. That pull, harnessed by the dominant chord, is how Western harmony creates tension and release — Unit 4 builds on nothing else.
The dominant is a fifth up (ratio 3:2, the two-thirds string of Unit 0); the subdominant a fifth down. The tonic sits between its two strongest relatives — the structure of the scale is the structure of the overtone series, folded into an octave.
Build the scale on every root in the lab below. Watch which notes need sharps or flats, hear the pattern stay the same, and read the degree names off the tiles.
🎼 Lab — Scale Builder
Pick a root; the major scale is built on it, shown as eight tiles with the whole and half steps between them, marked on the piano, and playable up, down or both.
- Start on C — no accidentals. Move to G: one sharp appears, and it is the seventh degree.
- Move to F: one flat appears on the fourth degree. Every step of the circle adds one more.
- Play the scale up and stop before the last note. Feel the leading tone pull.
Work it by hand — 0 / 2
No multiple choice here: compute the value and type it. Suffixes like 2.5k or 20m are understood; answers within ±2% count.