2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1...
...or 'Tone, tone, semi-tone, tone, tone, tone, semi-tone'...
This is one of the cornerstones of basic music theory and is fairly crucial in understanding what notes are used in which key and how we construct chords from the major scale. I'm going to do a couple of follow-up pieces in relation to 'harmonising the major scale' but this is where it all begins.
If you want to know what notes make up any major scale you can work it out easily if you know the interval sequence above and you know the full chromatic sequence of notes. There are 12 notes in this sequence:
So, if you want to find out the notes that are used in the key of C you should start with C (the root note or tonic) and move sequentially through the chromatic scale using the intervals outlined.
Root Note: C
plus 2 frets (tone): D
plus 2 frets (tone): E
plus 1 fret (semi-tone): F
plus 2 frets (tone): G
plus 2 frets (tone): A
plus 2 frets (tone): B
plus 1 fret (semi-tone): C
Next time I'm going to expand on this idea and talk about harmonising the scale to identify which chords will work best in a given key.
Until later
Shane
