Musical Scales

A scale is a sequence of notes that have certain harmony with each other. But they are only a mold that includes certain notes and excludes other for the sake of harmony. The chromatic scale is the scale that includes all possible notes, so when I wrote above all the notes with all the accidentals included, I wrote the chromatic scale.


Scales are more like a mathematical formula which tells us which notes are included. The most important scale is the Major Scale. It is used as reference for all the other scales, therefore it's the first you should learn. The Major Scale of C is so popular because it doesn't includes any accidentals.


So let's get to the formula. What we can observe is that the notes included in the C Major Scale are C D E F G A B. Let's start.



C is the tonic, meaning that it's the first note and that all the notes used in the scale are used relatively to this one.

 
Between C and D we have a full tone.
Between D and E we have a full tone.
Between E and F we have a semitone, remember that there are no accidentals between this two.
Between F and G there is a full tone.
Between G and A, another full tone.
A and B, a full tone. 

Finally, since a scale is a sequence that repeats itself indefinitely we must go back to the tonic. Between B and C there is a semitone (remember, no accidentals between this two either).

So the formula for a major a scale is... Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone. Use it with any note and there you have that note's major scale. Let's take then G.


G(tone)A(tone)B(semitone)C(tone)D(tone)E(tone)F#(semitone)G


For future reference, A is G's 2nd, B is G's 3rd, and so on until F# is the 7th. (This is for G)