The Major Scale Recipe
Learn the whole-and-half-step recipe behind every major scale (W-W-H-W-W-W-H) and test it yourself in C major and G major.
Ever wondered why so many happy tunes sound like cousins? Most of them come from one recipe: the major scale.
Try it first: start on any C and play the lit keys one by one up to the next C. Congratulations — that was a C major scale.
The recipe: W-W-H-W-W-W-H
The distance between two neighboring keys (black keys included) is a half step, and two half steps make a whole step. The major scale always follows the same recipe: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half.
Start on C and the recipe lands on white keys the entire way — E to F and B to C are natural half steps, exactly where the recipe asks for a half. That makes C major the only all-white-key major scale.
Change the starting note
Same recipe, now starting on G: the first five steps go smoothly, but the sixth step asks for a whole step, and a whole step up from E lands on the black key F♯. That is why G major has exactly one sharp.
The recipe never changes; only the starting note does. That starting note is called the tonic — it names the scale, and it is the note melodies most want to come home to.
Take this with you
- The major recipe is W-W-H-W-W-W-H, from any starting note.
- From C it is all white keys; from G you need F♯.
- The tonic is home, and it gives the scale its name.
Listen to both. Which one is the major scale?