C major: scale and chords

The C major scale

C D E F G A B

The C major scale is C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C again an octave up. Key signature: no sharps or flats, so on a piano it is the white keys from one C to the next. Every major scale follows one formula: whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half (W W H W W W H, or 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 semitones). In C the two half steps fall on E–F and B–C, the two places on a keyboard with no black key between.

On the treble staff, from middle C: C on a ledger line below the staff, D just below the bottom line, E on the bottom line, F in the first space, G on the second line, A in the second space, B on the middle line, C in the third space. No sharps or flats after the clef.

In Hz, from middle C (equal temperament, A4 = 440 Hz): C4 261.6 · D4 293.7 · E4 329.6 · F4 349.2 · G4 392.0 · A4 440.0 · B4 493.9 · C5 523.3

Play the scale

The C major scale on piano

C is the white key just left of each group of two black keys; middle C (C4) is the one nearest the middle of the keyboard, the fourth C from the left on an 88-key piano. Right hand, one octave up: thumb, index and middle finger on C D E, thumb under to F, then 1 2 3 4 5 on F G A B C. Left hand up: 5 4 3 2 1 on C D E F G, middle finger over to A, then 3 2 1 on A B C. Coming down, the same fingers in reverse.

Two octaves: right hand 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5, left hand 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 2 1.

The C major scale on guitar

In open position every note of C major sits in the first three frets, one finger per fret (index on 1, middle on 2, ring on 3). From C on the A string's 3rd fret to C on the B string's 1st fret is one octave, C3 to C4; the table gives the whole position, low E to high G.

A shape that moves: C on the 8th fret of the low E string, then frets 8 10 on low E, 7 8 10 on A, 7 9 10 on D (C D, E F G, A B C). Slide it two frets up and it plays D major; start it on the 3rd fret and it plays G major.

C major scale on guitar · C major pentatonic scale · C major scale on piano · D Dorian mode · C major scale on bass · C major scale on ukulele · C major scale on trumpet

The C major chord (C) on guitar and piano

C E G

The C major chord is C, E and G: the root, a major third above it (4 semitones) and a perfect fifth (7 semitones). In any order it stays C major: E G C is its first inversion, G C E its second. It is the I in the table below.

A song in C major is built on the C major scale and its chords, and C feels like home: the melody and the last chord usually land on C. It doesn't have to use all seven notes, and an odd sharp or flat (an accidental) doesn't change the key. So the C major chord (C E G) is one chord; the key of C major has seven, in the table below.

Guitar: x 3 2 0 1 0 (low E to high E, x = not played). Ring finger on the A string's 3rd fret, middle finger on the D string's 2nd fret, index on the B string's 1st fret; G and high E ring open, low E stays silent. Higher up the neck: x 3 5 5 5 3, the A-shape barre at the 3rd fret, or 8 10 10 9 8 8, the E-shape barre at the 8th.

Piano: three white keys, C, E and G, each two white keys apart. Right hand thumb, middle and little finger (1 3 5); left hand 5 3 1. Inversions in the right hand: E G C with 1 2 5, G C E with 1 3 5.

Play C

The chords in C major

Tap a chord to hear it.

One chord on each note of the scale, built from every other note: C E G, D F A, E G B and so on. C, F and G have a major third at the bottom (4 semitones), Dm, Em and Am a minor third (3), and B° two minor thirds (B–D–F), so its fifth is diminished. Every major key has the same pattern: major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished. Upper-case numerals are major chords, lower-case minor, ° diminished. The loop above plays I–V–vi–IV: C G Am F.

C major chords on guitar

Low E to high E; x = not played. F is the one full barre (1 3 3 2 1 1, index across all six strings at the 1st fret); the four-string x x 3 2 1 1, index flat across the top two strings, gets you there first.

Chord progressions in C major

• I–IV–V: C F G. Three chords that carry a great deal of rock and roll, folk and country.
• I–V–vi–IV: C G Am F, the four chords of countless pop songs, and the loop on this page.
• vi–IV–I–V: Am F C G. The same four chords started on the minor, darker.
• I–vi–IV–V: C Am F G, the 1950s doo-wop progression.
• ii–V–I: Dm7 G7 Cmaj7, the cadence jazz is built on.
• I–V–vi–iii–IV–I–IV–V: C G Am Em F C F G, Pachelbel's Canon moved from D to C.

C, F and G (I, IV, V: tonic, subdominant, dominant) are the three primary chords; add Am (vi) and you have the four chords in C, enough to play most songs in the key. Songs in C also reach outside it: E or E7, the dominant of A minor, leads into Am (a secondary dominant); B♭, A♭ and Fm are borrowed from C minor.

Relative minor, parallel minor and the keys that mix with C major

The relative minor of C major is A minor: the same seven notes and the same empty key signature, with A as home. The parallel minor is C minor (5A on the Camelot wheel), the same keynote with three flats (B♭ E♭ A♭). Start the seven notes of C major on another degree and you get its modes: D Dorian, E Phrygian, F Lydian, G Mixolydian, A Aeolian (the natural minor), B Locrian.

On the Camelot wheel C major is 8B (Open Key 1d). Tracks in these keys mix without a clash:

• 8A A minor relative minor, the same seven notes
• 7B F major one step down
• 9B G major one step up
• 10B D major two steps up, the energy boost

The C major key signature, and a chart of all of them

C major's key signature is empty. A sharp (♯) raises a note a semitone, a flat (♭) lowers it one; a key signature, written after the clef on every line, says which notes are raised or lowered throughout the piece. Each step clockwise round the circle of fifths from C adds a sharp, each step the other way a flat. Sharps are added in the order F C G D A E B, flats in the reverse, B E A D G C F. A mnemonic for the sharps: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle; read backwards, it gives the flats. To name a major key from its signature: with sharps, go a half step up from the last sharp (F♯ C♯ → D major); with flats, the second-to-last flat is the key (B♭ E♭ A♭ → E♭ major), and one flat is F major. A major key and its relative minor share a signature.

Three pairs sound the same and are spelled two ways: B and C♭, F♯ and G♭, C♯ and D♭. That makes 15 major key signatures for 12 keys; the links go to the page of the spelling in common use.

What plays

Drums, an organ bass and a pluck, the Brumm app's own sounds, four bars at 123 BPM, one chord per bar. The arrows move bass and chords a semitone; the drums stay.

Songs in C major

• J. S. Bach, Prelude in C major, BWV 846, the first piece of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (1722).
• W. A. Mozart, Piano Sonata in C major, K. 545, the "Sonata facile" (1788; No. 16, or No. 15 in some editions), and the "Jupiter" Symphony No. 41 (1788).
• Beethoven, Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 (1800); Schubert, Symphony No. 9 in C major, "The Great", D. 944 (1825–26).
• The Beatles, "Let It Be" (1970): C G Am F, the I–V–vi–IV of the loop above.
• John Lennon, "Imagine" (1971): the verse rocks between C, Cmaj7 and F; the chorus is F G C E7.
• Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah" (1984), charted in C: "the fourth, the fifth" of its lyric are F and G.

Bach's Prelude in C major, BWV 846

Thirty-five bars of one broken-chord figure, a new chord in every bar. The first four bars are a complete cadence in C: C major (C–E–G–C–E), Dm7 over a held C (C–D–A–D–F), G7 over B (B–D–G–D–F) and C major again. Charles Gounod laid a melody over the whole prelude in 1853; with Latin words it became his "Ave Maria".

The C major pentatonic scale

C D E G A: the major scale without F and B, the two notes that sit a half step from a neighbour, so no two notes rub. It holds the same five notes as the A minor pentatonic. On guitar it is the A minor pentatonic box at the 5th fret (frets 5 and 8 on both E strings and the B string, 5 and 7 on A, D and G), with C on the 8th fret of the low E string.

Play C D E G A C

Is C♯ major the same as C major?

No. C♯ major (C# major) is every note of C major raised a semitone: C♯ D♯ E♯ F♯ G♯ A♯ B♯, seven sharps, the most a key signature holds. It sounds the same as D♭ major with five flats, which is why most music in that key is written in D♭. Bach wrote the third prelude and fugue of both books of The Well-Tempered Clavier in C♯ major.

Is C major the easiest key?

To read, yes: no sharps or flats, which is why piano methods and theory courses start there. To play, not always. On piano every finger lands on a white key and the thumb passes under twice per octave; Chopin started his pupils on B major instead, where the long fingers rest on black keys (Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher, 1986). On guitar C major brings the F chord, the first barre most players meet; G major (G C D Em) asks less. For a voice the easiest key is the one that fits its range: the singing key finder picks it from a hum.

What does C major sound like, and what is it good for?

Plain and bright, by reputation. Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, in Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der Tonkunst (written 1784, printed 1806), called C major "completely pure", the key of innocence and simplicity. In equal temperament every major key has the same intervals, so the difference you hear is pitch and instrument: on a piano it is all white keys, and on string instruments the open strings ring along with the key (below). For writing and producing it is the default: sketch in C on the piano roll's white keys, then move the song to the singer's key with the arrows above or the transposer.

C major on other instruments and voices

Every open string of these six instruments is a note of C major. Viola and cello have C as their lowest string. The ukulele's open strings G C E A make a C6 chord, and C itself takes one finger: 0 0 0 3 (G C E A, the A string at the 3rd fret).

For a choir (soprano C4–G5, alto G3–D5, tenor C3–G4, bass F2–D4, where two part-writing guides agree), the keynote octave C4–C5 fits sopranos and altos, C3–C4 tenors and basses. Find your own range.

As a sub or an 808 the keynote is C1 at 32.7 Hz, or C2 at 65.4 Hz an octave up. Tune an 808 to C.

Then hum over it

The hum button opens Brumm with a short line in the key over a beat. Hum yours and it becomes an instrument. No account, no upload.

Sources

Scales and chords: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Camelot, Open Key: Mixed In Key, Mixgraph. Open strings: Wikipedia. Choir parts: Open Music Theory, Geneseo. Guitar shapes: Wikipedia, Barre chord. Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.

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