What is a major scale and a minor scale?

In our last post, we came to learn about what is a scale. There are different ypes of scales. Eg:- Major scales, minor scales, etc.

So, here in this topic we will highlight on what are major and minor scales. First let us take a look at the 12 universal notes of music.

  C  C#  D  D#  E  F  G  G#  A  Bb  B

Here first we will learn two new terms , Semi note and the Whole note.

Semi note:- The next adjacent note is known as the semi note.
Example :- The semi note of C is C#.

Whole note:- The next adjacent note of the semi note is the whole note.
Example:- The semi note of C is C#. Now the next adjacent note of the semi note(C#) is D. Thus, the whole note of C is D.

                                     Major Scale

The formula of a R-major scale is: -  

                              R  W  W  S  W  W  W  S

                         where, R : Root note

                                    W: Whole note

                                     S:  Semi note.

Example: The C major scale will be 

                 C  D  E  F  G  A  B  C^/

Here , C is the root note(R). After R comes W (whole note). The whole note of C is D. The third note is W. The whole note of D is E. So the third note will be E.  And similarly the scale is formed using this manner. 

D major scale: D  E  F#  G  A  B  C#  D^/.

                                                            

                                    Minor Scale

   The formula of a R-minor scale is: -  

                              R  W  S  W  W  S  W  W

                         where, R : Root note
                                    W: Whole note
                                     S:  Semi note.

Example: The A minor scale will be

                 A  B  C  D  E  F  G  A^/
Here , A is the root note(R). After R comes W (whole note). The whole note of A is B. So B is the second note of the scale. The third note is S. The whole note of B is C. So the third note will be C.  And similarly the scale is formed using this manner.

Example:
D minor scale: D  E  F  G  A  Bb  C  D^/





So we get a clear idea about the major and the minor scale of western music.

Thank You.