Most scales contain seven notes.
You already know at least one: the major scale (“Doe a Deer a Female Deer, Ray a drop of golden Sun” and other horrible, upbeat songs)
Do | Re | Mi | Fa | Sol | La | Ti | Do |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
In the key of G the major scale would contain these notes:
G | A | B | C | D | E | F# | G | note | |||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | nr. | |||||||
2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | nr. of frets up |
It’s called a major scale because it contains a major third.
This ‘third’ is the interval (meaning distance) between the tonic and the third note of the scale, in this case a G and a B.
This interval is 4 frets and sounds upbeat.
Every scale that has this formula (2,2,1,2,2,2,1) of frets between notes is a major scale.
As you can see, a scale is nothing more than a bunch of notes lined up with a certain formula of intervals.
G | – | A | Major Second | 2 frets | ||
G | – | B | Major Third | 4 frets | ||
G | – | C | (Perfect) Fourth | 5 frets | ||
G | – | D | (Perfect) Fifth | 7 frets | ||
G | – | E | Major Sixth | 9 frets | ||
G | – | F# | Major Seventh | 11 frets | ||
G | – | G | Octave | 12 frets |
If you continue to play the scale up from the octave, you’ll encounter these intervals:
G | – | A | Major Ninth | 14 frets | ||
G | – | C | Eleventh | 17 frets | ||
G | – | E | Major Thirteenth | 21 frets |