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The C Major Scale/C Major Chord Scale #1: Unlocking Your Ability to Improvise, Compose, and Play Music
Do you want to understand the notes, chords, and patterns in the C scale better? Figuring out how scales and chords work together will unlock your ability to improvise, compose, and play music. Keep reading to learn how the C major scale (including the C major chord scale) works.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
The C Major Scale/C Major Chord Scale #2: Discussing the Patterns
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We’ll talk about the C major chord scale in the next section. First, let’s look at the C major scale.
Here are the notes and patterns you’ll find:
- The notes in the key of C: C D E F G A B C.
- The scale also has this arrangement of half and whole steps: W W H W W W H (W = whole step and H = half step).
- It’s not just the C scale, any major scale will have this arrangement of half and whole steps.
- Looking at the keyboard above, you can see how it would look on the piano.
- On the keyboard, a half step is the distance from one key to the very next key. Conversely, a whole step has one black key (gray on the diagram) in between.
- So, the “white key” half steps will be between E & F and B & C.
- The sheet music example below shows the pattern of half and whole steps.
The C Major Key:
The C Major Scale/C Major Chord Scale #3: What is Diatonic Harmony?
Triads in the C Major Key:
The C major chord scale is built from the notes of the C major scale. (Technically, the chord scale should be called diatonic harmony instead.)
- The triads pull their notes only from this scale and are thus called diatonic chords.
- The key of C contains three major (C, F, G), three minor (Dm, Em, Am), and one diminished (B dim) chords.
- Any major key will have this pattern of chords, even though the note labels for the chords will shift as you change keys.
To learn how Roman numeral analysis works:
The C Major Scale/C Major Chord Scale #4: Summary
Here’s some final thoughts on The C Major Scale (Including the C Major Chord Scale):
- The key of C has these notes: C D E F G A B C.
- The C major scale builds its triads using only these notes (diatonic harmony).
- So, you’d use these triads to harmonize your melodies in the key of C.
- Similarly, you’d improvise over the chord changes using the C scale.
- Likewise, you’d write a melody over these triads using the notes from the C scale.
Have fun playing!
Related Posts
- The G Major Scale (Including the G Major Chord Scale)
- Do I Really Have to Learn Music Theory to Learn How to Play Piano?
- D’you Want Some Music Tips and Tricks I’ve Learned Over the Years?
© 2024 Geoffrey Keith
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