A Major Scale
Happy, bright scale
What is the A Major Scale?
The major scale is seven notes spaced in the pattern whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half (W-W-H-W-W-W-H), starting from the root. It's the reference scale of Western music: every other mode, key signature, chord and interval is named relative to it. When you hear a melody that sounds 'happy' or 'finished', you're almost certainly hearing major-scale notes resolving to the tonic.
Notes in the scale: A – B – C# – D – E – F# – G#
Intervals: Root, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (measured from the root)
Parent key: A major — shares the same seven notes
Progressions where the A Major Scale fits
I-V-vi-IV — in A major
A → E → F#m → D
I-IV-V — in A major
A → D → E
When to use the A Major Scale
The A Major Scale gives you the seven notes of the key of A major: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#. Use the major scale for melodies, solos and improvisation in any major-key song. Each of its seven notes generates a diatonic chord (I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii°), and these chords are the building blocks of every major-key progression. The major scale is also the parent of the major pentatonic (drop notes 4 and 7) and of all seven modes (Ionian through Locrian).
A Major Chord
Root chord for this scale
A Major Pentatonic
Simplified major sound
Blues Improvisation
Master blues soloing
Practice with Improvisio
See how the A Major Scale works over chord progressions.
Try it in the trainer