Scales
C Major Scale
C · D · E · F · G · A · B
The reference scale of Western music — seven notes, two half steps, and the sound most listeners hear as simply "in tune".
Also called C Ionian
C Major Scale
C · D · E · F · G · A · B
Fingering on the piano
| Hand | Fingering | Notes | Play it on your instrument |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right hand | 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 | C · D · E · F · G · A · B · C | |
| Left hand | 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 | C · D · E · F · G · A · B · C |
One octave ascending; 1 is the thumb. A standard fingering, not the only one.
Tap a key or a fret to hear it.
Scale degrees
C Major is made of the notes C · D · E · F · G · A · B. Each is a degree counted from the tonic, and the gaps between them are the step pattern W W H W W W H.
Read on: scale degrees · building any scale · the seven modes
Modes
A mode is the same set of notes started from another degree. Each card is one rotation of C Major: choose it to re-order the degrees from its tonic and hear it, or open its own page. The seven modes of the major scale are the ones most players learn first.
Chords in this key
Stacking thirds on each degree of C Major gives the chords of the key; the roman numeral names the degree each is built on.
Related scales
The scales C Major shares its notes with: the one it is a rotation of, the relative and parallel keys, the scales inside it and the ones that contain it.
A MinorA · B · C · D · E · F · G
Relative: the same notes from the other tonic
C MinorC · D · Eb · F · G · Ab · Bb
Parallel: the same tonic, the other modality
Scales inside it
C Major PentatonicC · D · E · G · A
Every note of this scale is in C Major.
C Ionian PentatonicC · E · F · G · B
Every note of this scale is in C Major.
C RitusenC · D · F · G · A
Every note of this scale is in C Major.
Scales that contain it
C BebopC · D · E · F · G · A · Bb · B
Contains every note of C Major.
C Bebop MajorC · D · E · F · G · G# · A · B
Contains every note of C Major.
C IchikosuchoC · D · E · F · Gb · G · A · B
Contains every note of C Major.
C ChromaticC · Db · D · Eb · E · F · Gb · G · Ab · A · Bb · B
Contains every note of C Major.
Understanding C Major
Names and spellings
C Major is also called C Ionian; every one of those names means exactly these notes.
The major scale and the Ionian mode are the same scale under two names: “major” when it is thought of as a key, “Ionian” when it is the first of the seven modes. Nothing about the notes changes.
How it is built
On C the scale is C · D · E · F · G · A · B, following the step pattern W W H W W W H. The two half steps fall between the third and fourth degrees and between the seventh and the octave, and everything distinctive about the major scale follows from where they sit.
That seventh degree is a semitone below the tonic, which makes it a leading tone: it pulls upward hard, and it is why a major scale feels like it has a home to return to.
How it is used
Harmonising it in thirds gives the seven diatonic chords, and those chords are the vocabulary of nearly all popular and classical music in a major key. The I, IV and V are the primary triads; the ii, iii and vi are their substitutes.
Every mode is a rotation of this scale, so learning it in all twelve keys is also learning dorian, phrygian, lydian, mixolydian, aeolian and locrian in all twelve.
Learn this properly
Chapter 7: Scales: Major and MinorCommon questions
- What notes are in the C Major?
- The C Major contains C · D · E · F · G · A · B. Find every scale that contains these notes with the scale finder.
- What is the major scale formula?
- Whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half — written W W H W W W H. Apply it from any note and you get that note’s major scale.
- What is the relative minor of C major?
- The A Minor. It uses the same notes starting from the sixth degree, so the two share a key signature.
- How do I play C Major?
- On guitar start with the 1st position, played from the lowest string upward; the instrument panel on this page shows its frets and the positions further up the neck. On the piano the right hand ascends 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5, with 1 as the thumb. Every position plays when you press it.
- What chords are in the key of C Major?
- Stacking thirds on each degree of C Major gives C (I), Dm (ii), Em (iii), F (IV), G (V), Am (vi), Bdim (vii°). These are the diatonic chords of the key, the ones a song in this key uses most; the harmony band on this page lists them with the seventh chords built the same way.