The Major Scale: Formula, Notes & All 12 Keys

How to build a major scale in any key

Take G as an example. Start on G and walk the pattern.

1. G to A is a whole step, A to B is a whole step, B to C is a half step.
2. C to D, D to E, and E to F# are three whole steps.
3. F# to G is a half step, landing back on G an octave up.

That gives G major: G A B C D E F#. The single sharp, F#, is forced by the formula. If you used F natural instead, the last two steps would come out wrong. This is exactly how key signatures happen: the major scale formula decides which notes have to be sharp or flat.

All 12 major scales

Here is every major scale with its sharps or flats. Notice the count grows by one as you move around the circle of fifths.

The order in which sharps and flats appear isn't random. It follows the circle of fifths, where each step in one direction adds a sharp and each step the other way adds a flat.

What the major scale is used for

Each step of the scale also has a name you will meet everywhere in theory: the 1st is the tonic (home), the 4th the subdominant, the 5th the dominant (the chord that pulls hardest back to the tonic), and the 7th the leading tone, which sits a half step below the tonic and leans into it. Those names describe a note's job in the key, not just its position.

Once you know the major scale, a lot of other theory falls into place, because it is all named against this one pattern.

• Chords: stack every other note of the scale and you get the chords of the key. C major gives C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, and Bdim.
• Modes: start the same seven notes on a different degree and you get the seven modes.
• Minor scales: the natural minor is the major scale started on its 6th degree, which is why A minor shares all its notes with C major.
• Intervals: musicians name distances like a major 3rd or perfect 5th by counting up from the root of the major scale.

To hear how the chords built from a scale work together, sketch a progression and play it back:

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