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The C Major Scale (Including the C Major Chord Scale) - Red Guitar with Amp

The C Major Scale (Including the C Major Chord Scale)

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Estimated reading time 2 minutes

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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.

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The C Major Scale/C Major Chord Scale #2: Discussing the Patterns

Mobile users: for best results reading the examples, tilt your screen 90o to the right.

The C Major Scale (Including the C Major Chord Scale) - Keyboard - Piano Major Scales (Basic Fingering Concepts)

To access an online keyboard: click here.

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:

  1. The notes in the key of C: C D E F G A B C.
  2. 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).
  3. It’s not just the C scale, any major scale will have this arrangement of half and whole steps.
  4. Looking at the keyboard above, you can see how it would look on the piano.
  5. 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.
  6. So, the “white key” half steps will be between E & F and B & C.
  7. The sheet music example below shows the pattern of half and whole steps.
What is a Parallel Mode and How Does it Work - C Major Scale - The C Major Scale (Including the C Major Chord Scale)

The C Major Key:

The C Major Scale/C Major Chord Scale #3: What is Diatonic Harmony?

Do You Want Cool Chords for Your Song - Diatonic Triads Key of C - The C Major Scale (Including the C Major Chord Scale)

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:

Can Someone Explain Roman Numeral Analysis in Layman's Terms for Me - Triads Key of C - Tonic vs. Root in Music Theory - The C Major Scale (Including the C Major Chord Scale) - Whats the Secret of Practicing Arpeggios

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):

  1. The key of C has these notes: C D E F G A B C.
  2. The C major scale builds its triads using only these notes (diatonic harmony).
  3. So, you’d use these triads to harmonize your melodies in the key of C.
  4. Similarly, you’d improvise over the chord changes using the C scale.
  5. Likewise, you’d write a melody over these triads using the notes from the C scale.

Have fun playing!

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