Scale Theory (cont.)
The kicker is the next note -- "F" -- is only one fret away from the "E". This interval is called a half step. There are other names for the intervals as well. A whole step interval is called a major second, and the half step interval is a diminished second. But I would prefer to avoid that whole discussion as it just clouds the issue for now. Continuing on, the next note is "G", which is, once again a whole step from "F". "A" is a whole step above "G", and "B" is a whole step from "A". Finally, we close off the scale with another "C" note, this one is a full 12 steps higher in pitch than the first "C".

So, a major scale in western music is made up of a sequence of whole steps and half steps in the following order:

Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step,

Whole Step, Whole Step, Whole Step, Half Step.

To create the "G" scale, a very popular one in Bluegrass, start with a "G". Up a whole step is "A", up another whole step is "B". Then the note under the half step is "C". Up a whole step to "D", Up a whole step to "E". To go up another whole step we need to play some kind of an "F". We can't play the "F" note because it is only a half step away from the "E" and we need a whole step jump from the "E". So we have to play "F#". Because we have to sharp all of the "Fs" to be able to play in the key of "G", we annotate our sheet music with a sharp symbol where the "F" note fall on the clef. That save the person writing the music from having to put all those sharps in the music every time you play an "F". If you are reading music, you are supposed to automatically know to sharp all the "Fs". Fortunately we won't be reading music, so all of this theory is just for background understanding. We want to live in the "real world", and just play, and not get bogged down in theory. I would recommend you get a notebook of some kind and write out all the different scales in it, so you can find out what notes are in certain scales when you need to have that information.

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