Some Major Scales Just Ain’t Natural!

We’ve only looked at some of the natural notes so far. The natural notes are A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The other 5 notes have two names. They can be either sharp or flat.

Here’s the thing, we’re only going to use flats as the tonic for those major scales. That means the other 5 major scales are going to be Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, and Gb.

Why? Because their enharmonic counterparts (the sharps) don’t follow the rules.

As an example, let’s try to apply the pattern to one. We’ll try “A#”.

We start on the tonic (A#) and apply the pattern.

As you can see, a whole step up from A# is C. But the rules say we have to use every letter in alphabetical order so we need a B. Ok, we could call it B#. We could get away with that. But, another whole step up from B# is a D and we need a C! You can see the problem right away.

Although the notes are correct, the names are not going to fit our rules. And, trying to write or read the musical notation would be very confusing.

Bb-Major Scale

But, let’s look at the enharmonic counterpart. Bb is the same note as A#, so let’s see what Bb looks like.

The first (tonic) will be Bb. Apply the pattern from there:

• W – a whole step (2 half steps) up from Bb is C. The second (II) is C.
• W – a whole step up from C is D. The third degree (III) of the Bb major scale is D.
• H – a half step up from D is Eb.  The fourth (IV) is Eb.
• W – if we move a whole step up from Eb, we get an F. The fifth (V) is F.
• W – another whole step up gives us an G. The sixth (VI) is G.
• W – two half steps (whole step)up from G is A. The seventh (VII) of the Bb major scale is A.
• H – a half step up from A gives us another Bb. The eighth (VIII), is another Bb, one octave above the tonic.

Here’s an illustration of the Bb scale.

So that works.

It meets all our rules. All the flats will work to name major scales, but the sharps, not so friendly.

I’m not saying that there is no such thing as a D#, or a G#, or an A#-Major scale, because there is! We know those notes are correct. But, they’re almost impossible to write out, especially in music notation. So we stick with the flats to name those scales.

Here are all the major scales for you to consider:

A–B–C–D–E–F–G–Bb–Eb–Ab-Db-Gb

Something to think about…

You’re going to get to some keys like Gb, and find that, to meet our rules for a major scale, the fourth degree of that scale needs to be a Cb. That’s the same as a B note. Could that be a mistake?

Then you’re going to say, “What’s up? You said there’s no such thing as a C-flat or a B-sharp”.

Well… actually, I didn’t say that. You must have heard it somewhere else.

What I did say is that there is only a half step between B and C, and a half step between E and F. And, there’s no sharp or flat in between those notes.

I also stated that any note could be made sharp or flat.

While it’s not that common, you may see the odd Cb or E# etc.. In written music you may also come across a double sharp (##), or a double flat (bb). Not wrong, just not that common. If you happen to see a double sharp or a double flat, just raise or lower the note by 2 half steps.

So it’s not a mistake – The Gb major scale does have a Cb.
Surprise!!

So that’s the Major Scale

If you break this lesson down to just the main points, all we really learned here was a simple pattern, and how to apply it to musical notes to build a major scale. However, it’s an important concept, and as I explained in the beginning paragraphs, there are a lot of places to go from here.

I don’t imagine that the exercise for this lesson is any surprise.
Try writing out all 12 major scales. Check each one and make sure it follows our rules for a Major Scale.

When you’re comfortable with it, you should be ready to apply that knowledge in the next lesson.

Review

1. A major scale is a diatonic scale. It has seven pitches per octave, separated by 5 tones and 2 semitones.
2. Many scales are derived from the major scale, or at least explained and learned in terms of how they differ from that pattern.
3. The first note of a major scale is called the tonic, and it’s the note that the scale is named for. In other words, the first letter (or tonic) of the F major scale is F.
4. In any major scale, each letter of the musical alphabet can only be used once.
5. We add a note to the end of the scale that is the same as the tonic, only an octave higher. It’s called the octave.
6. Each position in a scale is called a degree. The second note is the second degree of the scale, the next is the 3rd degree, etc. We usually leave off the word degree, and just say the second, the third or the fourth etc.
7. The C major scale is the only major scale without any sharps or flats. It uses all the natural notes in order starting with the tonic C.
   C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C
8. The pattern for a major scale is whole tone, whole tone, half tone, whole tone, whole tone, whole tone, half tone. W-W-H-W-W-W-H
9. There are 12 major scales. The 7 naturals are A major, B major, C major, D major, E major, F major and G major.
10. The major scales that are not naturals are Bb major, Eb major, Ab major, Db major and Gb major.

So, good luck with that! When you’re comfortable with the Major Scale, the next logical step is to take a look at the minor scale.