Lets learn some really basic music theory together.

If you have a piano or keyboard available to you, you can use it for this piece. If not, lets just look at this image right here.

Do not worry about the notes written on the keys for now.

As you see, there are 7 white keys and 5 black ones. Scales are comprised of a set of notes we use in order to create a piece of music. It is somewhat like a number of notes we limit ourselves to in order to create. There are many different scales, especially when we know world music and are familiar with all the different types of notes used in music made around the world. There are two very well known kinds of scales, almost all around the world. These are the MAJOR and MINOR scales. There is a formula to creating major and minor scales using the 8 notes in an octave. This formula rests on the idea that each of the notes, as they sit next to each other, are separated at a particular distance. Look at your piano/keyboard, or the image above. When there is a black key between two white keys, the distance between the two white keys is considered a Whole Step. When there is no black key between them, their distance is considered a Half Step. The distance between a white key and a black one sitting right next to it is also considered a half step. Knowing this, you can use the following two formulas to create the desired major or minor scale starting from any note you desire:

MAJOR: Whole-Whole-Half-Whole-Whole-Whole-Half

MINOR: Whole-Half-Whole-Whole-Half-Whole-Whole

If you pay attention, you can see that the C Major scale is an exemplary scale on the piano for major scales. This means that simply due to the way the black and white keys are set up, the white keys create a major scale without needing to make any notes “sharp” or “flat” to match our formula.

“sharpening” or “flattening” a note simply means to choose a note half step above or below a specific note, respectively.