The Major Scale as the Master Reference

You know that major and minor scales exist. This module makes them usable: how they map to the fretboard, how the three minor scales differ, and which scales power rock, metal and pop.

The idea

The major scale is built from a fixed pattern of whole steps (W, two frets) and half steps (H, one fret):

W – W – H – W – W – W – H

C major is C D E F G A B. The half steps fall between degrees 3 and 4 (E–F) and between 7 and 1 (B–C).

From now on, think of every scale and chord as scale degrees: numbers measured against the major scale. C major is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. A scale written 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 means “take the major scale and lower its 3rd, 6th and 7th by a half step”. This is the language the rest of the course uses.

Every degree has a name that describes how it behaves:

Degree	Name	Behavior
1	Tonic	Home
2	Supertonic	Passing, mild
3	Mediant	Stable, defines major or minor
4	Subdominant	Leans down to 3
5	Dominant	Stable, the strongest support of the tonic
6	Submediant	Mild, the root of the relative minor
7	Leading tone	A half step below the tonic, pulls up to it

The half-step pull of 7 up to 1 (and of 4 down to 3) is the engine of Western harmony. You will meet it again in every module.

On your instrument

Guitar. Learn the major scale in the five CAGED positions so you can play any key anywhere on the neck. If you already use three-notes-per-string patterns, keep them. For every position the rule is the same: always know where the root is and which degree each note is. Switch the labels in the explorer above between degrees and notes, and play the pattern while saying the degrees out loud (“1, 2, 3…”). Degrees transfer between keys. Note names do not.

Piano. Play C major with one hand, then G, D and F major. The keyboard makes the W and H pattern visible in a way the guitar never does: the black keys appear exactly where the pattern needs them. Use the piano to understand, and the guitar to speak.

Worked example

G major on a single string. Playing along one string removes the shapes and leaves only the pattern:

String 6:  3   5   7   8   10  12  14  15
Note:      G   A   B   C   D   E   F♯  G
Degree:    1   2   3   4   5   6   7   1
Step:        W   W   H   W   W   W   H

Two frets is a whole step and one fret is a half step. The half steps sit exactly between 3–4 and 7–1.

Exercises

1. Degree drill. In one position, play these degree patterns in three different keys and sing along: 1-3-5-3-1, then 1-2-3-5-6-5-3-1, then 5-6-7-1 going up.
2. One-string scales. Play G major entirely on string 6, then entirely on string 3. This forces you to hear the W-W-H-W-W-W-H structure instead of leaning on a memorized shape.
3. Build from the formula. Using only the step pattern, write out D, A, E, F and B♭ major on paper. Check with the explorer.
4. Write an 8-note melody using only degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6. This is the major pentatonic, a preview of lesson 2.4. Notice how hard it is to sound bad.

Common mistakes

• Knowing shapes without knowing roots. If you cannot point to every root in a position, you do not know the position yet.
• Thinking in note names only. “F♯” tells you where to put a finger. “The 7th of G” tells you what the note does.

Check yourself