The third degree of a scale is called the mediant, located half way between the tonic and the dominant. (A diatonic scale is another variation of a heptatonic scale – a scale containing 7 pitches between octaves.) Scales that include five whole steps and two half steps. This is the second degree of the scale in C Major. Knowing this alone can help us identify where to begin. More importantly, it’s what gives the scale its name. Now, we mentioned how C is the root note of the C Major Scale, but did you know that the other notes have names as well? The names relate to the degree the note falls in the scale.ĭiagram of all of the scale degrees within the C Major scaleĪs we covered, the tonic is the root note of the scale. When there are two completely different scales that follow the same key signature, we call them relative keys. This is because they both share no sharps or flats in their key signature. When we factor in key signatures, C Major is a blank slate, very similar to A minor.

These are the formulas used in Major and minor scales. In a minor scale, however, you would follow this pattern instead:

The W’s represent the whole steps, and the H’s represent the half-steps. Well, in short: A Major Scale in general is defined by containing nothing but whole steps except for the third to fourth degrees, and the seventh to eighth degrees, which are instead half-steps. The Major Scale, which may also be referred to as the Ionian Mode, follows this sequence of notes:īut, what exactly MAKES it a Major Scale? So for instance, if you are playing C Major, the root of the scale is C. To sum it up best within an octave, a Major Scale is a collection of 7 notes played in sequence with the final 8th note being the root note, otherwise known as the tonic of the scale.

B flat major scale guitar