Building Major Scales
A major scale is a collection of seven notes, related to each other in a fixed pattern of intervals.
We’ll start by examing the good old key of C major, which uses only the white keys on the piano (that is, it contains no sharps or flats).
If you’d like to get the same major key sound starting from another note, you need to follow the same distances from note to note. Let’s take a look at that formula:
| C - D | whole step |
| D - E | whole step |
| E - F | half step |
| F - G | whole step |
| G - A | whole step |
| A - B | whole step |
| B - C | half step |
Remember that the distance from E to F and from B to C is a half step (on a piano, there are no black keys between these pairs).
Using W for whole steps and H for half steps, the formula for a major scale is:
W - W - H - W - W - W - H
Let’s build an F major scale using the same formula:
F - G - A - Bb - C - D - E - F
We only need one note that is different from the notes in the C major scale: Bb instead of B. Note that we wouldn’t call that note A# (even though A# and Bb are the same sound) because we already have an A in the scale.
How about an A major scale?
A - B - C# - D - E - F# - G# - A
A major has three sharps.
What we find when we build the scales from all possible roots (starting notes) is:
No sharps or flats:
key of C major
Keys built with Flats:
| Flats | Key |
| Bb | F |
| Bb Eb | Bb |
| Bb Eb Ab | Eb |
| Bb Eb Ab Db | Ab |
| Bb Eb Ab Db Gb | Db |
| Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb | Gb |
Keys built with Sharps:
| Sharps | Key |
| F# | G |
| F# C# | D |
| F# C# G# | A |
| F# C# G# D# | E |
| F# C# G# D# A# | B |