What is a major scale?

Answer 1

For a beginning student with little to no music theory background, the 'Do, Re, Mi' song from the Sound of Music movie is an excellent example of what makes up a major scale.

An easy way to apply this to guitar in the key of 'C' (the key with no sharps or flats) is to select the third fret, 'A' string and move up as follows:

Starting note, two frets, two frets, one fret, two frets, two frets, two, frets, then one fret, which will land you on the note exactly one octave above the starting note (the fifteenth fret).

This spells out the C major scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

It should be noted that moving up two frets is the musical equivalent of a whole step or tone, while moving up one fret is the equivalent of moving up a half step or semi tone.

Answer 2

To add to Bonnie's excellent answer, a major scale are the notes that make up "do re mi fa sol la ti do"

Answer 3

A major scale is a diatonic scale. The word "diatonic" means a musical scale comprising intervals of five whole steps and two half steps. The sequence of intervals between the notes of a major scale is:

whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half