Notes of the Musical Alphabet

All music is based upon a series of 12 notes.

C#/
Db

D#/
Eb

F#/
Gb

G#/
Ab

A#/
Bb

10

11

12

The distance between any two notes is called an INTERVAL.

(E.g. C to F, E to A, D# to A# are all examples of INTERVALS)
The smallest INTERVAL in music is called a SEMITONE.
(E.g. D to Eb, F# to G, Bb to B are all SEMITONE INTERVALS)
The next INTERVAL after a SEMITONE is a TONE, which is the same as two
SEMITONES.
(E.g. G to A, E to Gb, C to D are all TONE INTERVALS)
For INTERVALS bigger than SEMITONES and TONES we use specific names
No. of Semitones

Interval

Alternative Name(s)

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Unison
Minor 2nd
Major 2nd
Minor 3rd
Major 3rd
Perfect 4th
Diminished 5th
Perfect 5th
Minor 6th
Major 6th
Minor 7th
Major 7th
Octave

Perfect Unison
Semitone
Tone
Augmented 4th
Augmented 5th
Diminished 7th
-

A SCALE is just the name for a series of notes, using a specific formula.
.
The formula for the MAJOR SCALE is as follows;

TONE, TONE, SEMITONE, TONE, TONE, TONE, SEMITONE

Looking back at the series of 12 notes at the top of the page, we can work out the
C MAJOR SCALE using the MAJOR SCALE formula.

C, D, E, F, G, A, B
Your next task is to work out all 12 Major Scales using the Major Scale
Formula.