How to Memorize Major Scales

1 Start by Just Looking at the Chart

First, review the table below. If it looks complicated or overwhelming at first glance, just examine one column at a time. What do you notice? There are no right or wrong observations — just see if anything sticks out, make a mental note of it, and try to make sense of what you are seeing.

Notice that each successive scale (descending from the top row) has only one note that is changed from the scale above it. The scales that share a green, yellow, or blue background sound the exact same — in fact, on your instrument they use the same exact keys/valves/positions; they're just spelled with different notes. Try playing them on the piano to see for yourself. These are called enharmonically equivalent. F♭ = E. B♯ = C. However, the distinction between B♯ and C, and other enharmonically equivalent notes, will become important later on in your theory studies.

Next, look at the third and fourth columns. They each provide just a tiny bit more information for each row/scale. I suggest spending a week or so just trying to memorize the major scales by rote. This means trying to memorize the sequence of notes without using any memory tricks.

Displayed here in the order of the circle of fourths. (If that ordering is new to you, see the circle of fifths explained.)

2 Some Information to Start With

• Each row is a major scale.
• Each major scale only has seven unique notes.
• The name of the major scale is the same as the key, which is always the first note of the scale.
• Notice that no major scale has sharps and flats. With major scales, they're always either/or, never both!
• No major scale has two of the same letter name.
  • For example, even though A♯ = B♭, the F major scale is F, G, A, B♭, C, D, E — the F major scale is not F, G, A, A♯, C, D, E. Major scales cannot have two of the same letter name; in this case, "A" and "A♯" are the same letter name.
• C has no sharps or flats (all white notes) — but C♯ has all sharp notes, and C♭ has all flat notes.

See if you can find additional patterns in the "Altered Notes" column before reading on.

3 The Major Scale Formula

You can figure out the notes to any major scale by using the formula above and looking at a piano.

W = H × 2. A whole step is two semitones. To ascend one whole-step is to also ascend two half-steps. So, to ascend a whole step from A♭ you go up one note to A (one half-step/semitone) and then up another note to B♭ (one whole-step/tone total).

4 Fun Things to Notice

Third column (# of sharps or flats)

• The number of flats rises in a logical, incremental fashion: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
• The number of sharps falls in a logical, incremental fashion: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

Second column (notes in ascending order)

• Notice how this arrangement of scales looks a bit like an hourglass. That's because the scales in the center have more sharps and flats — which corresponds with the incremental increase of sharps and flats.
• Notice that when scales are enharmonically equivalent, the total number of sharps and flats sums to 12. 12 is also the total number of unique note names.
  • Example: the F♯ scale has 6 sharps, the G♭ scale has 6 flats — 6 sharps + 6 flats = 12.
• Notice too that if you add the number of flats and sharps of two scales with the same starting letter, they will always add up to seven. Each major scale only has seven notes.
  • Example: A♭ = 4 flats, A = 3 sharps → 4 + 3 = 7! This bit of knowledge may come in handy when digging into intervals.

Fourth column (altered notes)

• Notice that the sharps and flats are not random. All previous flats (or sharps) are retained if another flat (or sharp) is added.
  • Example — F major: F, G, A, B♭, C, D, E. B♭ major: B♭, C, D, E♭, F, G, A. Notice that while F major has 1 flat and B♭ major has two flats, B♭ major still has a B♭. There is a logic to the order of flats and sharps.

The order of flats and sharps

What do you notice about this? They're opposites! The order of flats = the order of sharps in reverse. (Drill this pattern with the order of sharps and flats reference.)

5 The Chart, Split in Two

If we only look at major scales organized by the order of flats, we would get:

If we only look at major scales organized by the order of sharps, we would get:

6 The Payoff: Where Each New Flat and Sharp Lands

Here are the two tables from above, but I've bolded the single note change from scale to scale.

Notice anything about the bolded notes above?!?

Once you notice this, you no longer have to memorize 15 separate scales. You need the order of flats and sharps, the one-note change between neighboring scales, and the scale degree where each new alteration lands, and the rest follows. This work also puts you most of the way to knowing your key signatures; when you're ready, see how to learn key signatures fast.