Major Scale

The Major scale is a 7-note scale in the common family. Also known as the Ionian scale. Bright, resolved, and stable. The foundation of Western tonal music and the most common mode in pop, classical, folk, and jazz. Heard in: Pop, classical, country, folk, gospel — the default major tonality of Western music. Like every scale, it is defined by the semitone distances between its degrees, so the same pattern produces the scale from any starting note. Pick a tonic below to see the notes it contains.