Chord Scales - Part 1: The Major Scale
(07 Apr 03)
Sharps and Flats
Major Scales that take Sharps
We already know the C major scale and their note names. What we do now is to take the 2nd tetrachord of the C major scale and make it the 1st tetrachord of a new scale.
That means that G is our new root. Due to the fact that 1st and 2nd tetrachord are identical in their structure the four notes g, a, b, and c are the first four notes of the G major scale. We just have to form the 2nd tetrachord, which is d, e, f#, g.
G major scale:
Now we repeat the whole procedure: take the 2nd tetrachord of G and make it the 1st of D. Then form the 2nd tetrachord of D, which is a, b, c#, d. We get the same note names as on the last page.
D major scale:
You can continue to do this the same way - next major scale would be A. Notice that everytime you do this, it adds one more sharp to the new scale. To shorten this whole thing I list all possible major scales that use sharps below. Furthermore I list the numbers of sharps that are included and their note names:
(F# and C# major scales are in parenthesis because they are not very practicable. I listed them to show the complete list.)
List of all major scales that take sharps
More important than the spelling of the different scales is that you learn, by heart, the numbers of sharps a specific scale contains and the series of "sharpened" notes (f# c# g# d# a# e# b#). That's why I labeled the important spots red.
Example of how you should memorize the table above:
G major scale - 1 sharp - sharpened note is f#
D major scale - 2 sharps- - sharpened notes are f# c#
.........
B major scale - 5 sharps - sharpened notes are f# c# g# d# a#
Example for writing out E major scale:
1) Write down the natural note names starting from the root: e f g a b c d
2) You know that E major scale takes four sharps and you learn the series of "sharpened" notes. Take the first four of this series(f# c# g# d#), and insert it into the scale: e f# g# a b c# d#.
This thinking is a fast way of constructing a scale and applicable to a lot of different musical skills, like sight reading.
Major Scales that take Flats
Constructing major scales that take flats is the same procedure. The only difference is that we take the 1st tetrachord and make it the 2nd tetrachord of the new scale.
The Root of the new scale is determined by the last note of this tetrachord - in our example F. Now we have to construct the missing 1st tetrachord, which is f, g, a, bb.
F major scale:
We repeat the procedure and construct Bb major scale:
You can continue to write out major scales like this until you reach Cb major.
List of all major scales that take flats
Again, important is the number of flats a scale takes and the series of "flattened" notes.
Learning the series of added flats and sharps is also a big help when figuring out which scale has what number of sharps or flats. Let's say you would like to know the scale that has 3 sharps. The first 3 sharpened notes out of our series are f# c# g#. The last sharpened note (in our case g#) is always a half step below the root of the actual scale (in our case A). You can apply this thinking to all scales that take sharps.
Scales that take flats can be identified by looking at the second last note in the series of flattened notes. Let's take a look at the first three flattened notes which are bb eb ab. The second last note is eb and this is also the major scale.
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