Major Scale and Chords – Work in Progress

The Major scale in depth

For full in depth information please follow the link above.

The following lesson is written primarily for guitarists…

Please Note:

A Semitone is 1 fret and a Tone is equal to 2 frets

Related articles:

Learning the notes on the guitar


The following is a simplified explanation:

The musical alphabet goes:

A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A


These letters/notes are separated by Tones or Semitones

A t B s C t D t E s F t G t A t B s C t D t E s F t G t A t B s C t D t E s F t G t A

A group of 8 sequential notes is called an octave: A B C D E F G A

More about Octaves here


The major scale is created using the formula:

Tone Tone Semitone Tone Tone Tone Semitone


The Scale of C Major – Read More

C D E F G A B C

C t D t E s F t G t A t B s C

T T S T T T S

Tone Tone Semitone Tone Tone Tone Semitone


The Chords in a Major key are organised like so:

I – II – III – IV – V – VI – VII

Major minor minor Major Major minor Diminished

I = Major

II =minor

III = minor

IV = Major

V = Major

VI = minor

VII = Diminished

M m m M M m D

C Dm Em F G Am Bdim

The Key of C Major Read More…

Learning the notes of C on the guitar


G A B C D E F G

G t A t B s C t D t E t F# s

T T S T T T S

Tone Tone Semitone Tone Tone Tone Semitone

I II III IV V VI VII

M m m M M m D

G A B C D E F# G


D t E t F# s G t A t B t C# s D

D E F# G A B C# D

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