Most songs are written in a certain key, such as C or Eb. This means that that the chords and melody notes will be drawn primarily from the scale of that chord. In other words, if a song is written in the key of E major, then the notes and chords will be constructed primarily from the E major scale.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to know your scales. You can’t fully understand much music theory at all if you don’t understand and practice your scales.

Here’s how to figure out the scale in any major key. The first thing you need to know is the root note. That’s easy. The root note is the same note as the key. Simply put, if the song is written in D, the root note is D. If the song is written in F#, then the root note is F#, etc., etc.

The next thing you need to know is about intervals on the piano or keyboard. We will be moving up the keyboard 1 and 2 notes at a time. A movement of 1 note (up or down) is considered a half step. This includes black notes. In other words, if you move from a C note to a D note (the next white key), it is not a half-step because there is a black note (C#) in between them so technically you have moved up 2 notes. If you move 2 notes (up or down) it is called a whole step. So, in a nutshell, when you move up or down the keys (counting all notes, black and white) 1 key it is a half step; a 2-key move is a whole step.

Now, to figure out the scale you start at the root note. Let’s say your song is written in the key of D major. Your root note is a D note. So the D note is the first note in your scale. To make a major scale in any key you use the following pattern: whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step,whole step, half step. More simply put, 2 whole steps, a half step, 3 whole steps and then another half step.

So following this pattern you begin at your root note, D in this example. You move up a whole step to an E note. Then up another whole step to F# and then a half step to G. Then you go 3 whole steps, A, B, C#. Finally, you end with a half step move up to D. Your major scale will always end on the same note it began on one octave higher.

The hardest part of this concept for most people to grasp is counting EVERY key, black and white. Looking at the example above you see that going the whole step up from B took us to C#. A whole step is 2 notes. There is no black note in between B and C, so a move from B up to C would only have been a half step. However, a move from A up to B is a whole step because there is a black note between them, making it a 2-note move.

Practice this concept and learn the scales in as many keys as possible. You can always stop and figure out the scale using the formula, but it is very advisable to memorize the scales…at least in the more common keys.

If you’ve looked at some music theory and seen references to fourths, fifths, ninths, etc. and you were confused, then rest assured. Once you master the concept of scales, the rest will come easier. I’ll save intervals for another article, but as a quick teaser, a fourth is simply 2 notes which are 4 notes apart in the scale. Start at one, move up the scale four notes staying in the pattern you learned above and there is your fourth. There is much more to it than this, but get the scales down first.

Thanks for reading.