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music theory— the scales |
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the major scale:
A SCALE is nothing more than a clever way to travel from octave to octave. The word CHROMATIC comes from chroma or color. Think of the chromatic scale (because it contains every note) as one that includes all the colors.
The Basics
Although it might seem strange, (given the fact that the notes are named A through G) music theory actually begins with the key of C.
Below is the CHROMATIC SCALE starting with C:
C - C#/Db - D - D#/Eb - E - F - F#/Gb - G - G#/Ab - A - A#/Bb - B - C
Every other scale (there are hundreds of them) is constructedby selecting only certain notes from the chromatic scale.
The chromatic scale is the model used for the concept of WHOLE-STEPS and HALF-STEPS (sometimes referred to as WHOLE TONE and SEMI TONE).
A HALF-STEP is the distance between any two notes along the chromatic scale. If you play any note of the chromatic scale and then play the next higher note OR the next lower note, that is considered a HALF-STEP.
A WHOLE-STEP is equal to the distance of two HALF-STEPS. Therefore, if you play any note of the chromatic scale and then play, not the next note, but, the note after that, you are executing a WHOLE-STEP. (C to C# is a half-step, C to D is a whole-step etc...)
When applied to the guitar, half-step translates to the distance of one fret and whole-step to the distance of two frets. It makes no difference what the names of the notes are. The only thing that matters, is how far apart those notes are. (Understand that B and C are one fret apart as are E and F. these two pair of notes are therefore a half-step and not a whole-step. This is a common misunderstanding that beginning students have when first learning this concept. They assume that because there is no sharp or flat between those notes that they are a whole-step apart.)
Now, before we continue, another definition:
A note that is neither sharp nor flat is considered NATURAL. |
