OpenGuitarChords
English

Guitar scale

C major scale

The C major scale is the bright, resolved sound at the centre of Western music, and the reference every other scale is measured against. Best for melody, songwriting, everything else.

By Chiye · Updated · Counts from the 80 song sheets on openguitarchords.com

Root
C
Notes
CDEFGAB
Formula
W-W-H-W-W-W-H
Relative key
A natural minor
Learning path
Step 2 of 5
123456789101112131415EADGBeEFGABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFGABCDEFG
All 15 frets, high e string on top. Orange marks a C root, the box is the one position to start with, and fret 0 is an open string.
Print or save the C major chart
C major scale chart: every note from fret 0 to 15 across all six strings, root notes marked in orange

940 × 230 px version of the chart above, sized for a phone screen or a printed handout. Tap the image to save it.

The C major scale is the seven notes C, D, E, F, G, A and B. Read as scale degrees from C, that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Every note is a fixed distance from the one before it: W-W-H-W-W-W-H, where W is a whole step (2 frets) and H is a half step (1 fret). That pattern is the whole scale. Move it so the root lands on a different note and you are playing that key's major scale. The scale supplies the chords of its key: C (I), Dm (ii), Em (iii), F (IV), G (V), Am (vi), Bdim (vii°). Its relative key is A natural minor, which uses exactly the same notes. What changes is the note that feels like home. On the guitar this is not one shape but overlapping positions: the lowest C sits at fret 1 on the B string. 15 of the 80 song sheets charted here are in C.

Start here: one C major position

Every note of the scale inside frets 1 to 5 sits in the box highlighted on the full neck above. The diagram below is that box on its own, numbered in the order to play it. Learn this one box first; the rest of the neck is the same shape repeated.

Play the box in this order

12345EADGBeFGABCCDEFGA1234567
Numbers 1 to 7 are the playing order, one note at a time. Letters are the other C major notes in this position; orange letters are roots.

C 1 → D 2 → E 3 → F 4 → G 5 → A 6 → B 7

Plays exactly the run numbered above, one note at a time.

Every C on the neck

low Efret 8
Afret 3
Dfret 10
Gfret 5
Bfret 1
high Efret 8

What notes are in the C major scale?

  1. C1Root
  2. W
  3. D2Major 2nd
  4. W
  5. E3Major 3rd
  6. H
  7. F4Perfect 4th
  8. W
  9. G5Perfect 5th
  10. W
  11. A6Major 6th
  12. W
  13. B7Major 7th
  14. H
  15. C1octave

W whole step (2 frets), H half step (1 fret). The same pattern from any other root gives that key's major scale.

Chords in the key of C major

Every chord below is built from the notes of this scale, so a song in C major uses almost nothing else. Together they account for 1132 chord changes in the library, counted, not estimated.

I363 usesCC E Gii16 usesDmD F Aiii113 usesEmE G BIV106 usesFF A CV418 usesGG B Dvi116 usesAmA C Evii°unused hereBdim all rootsB D F

How to practise the C major scale

  1. Frets 1 to 5, slowly. The position above, up and back, naming every note out loud. Naming is what turns a shape into a scale.
  2. Then find the next C: low E string, fret 8. Build the same shape from there and play root to root at 60 BPM, one note per beat.
  3. Then stop counting. Pick a song in C from the list below and improvise on these notes for two minutes. That is what the scale is for.

Songs in C on this site

15 of the 80 song sheets charted here are in C. Play this scale over any of them and every note lands inside the key.

CLet It BeThe BeatlesCHallelujahLeonard CohenCImagineJohn LennonCCan't Help Falling in LoveElvis PresleyCHave You Ever Seen the RainCreedence Clearwater RevivalCHo HeyThe LumineersAllEvery song sheet
What the library actually plays in C majorCounted from the progressions written out in the song sheets charted here, not derived from theory. Only three-chord runs that stay inside the C major scale are shown.
Run #1
C → G → Dplayed 34 times
Run #2
C → G → Amplayed 32 times
Run #3
C → G → Cplayed 26 times

C major scale: common questions

What notes are in the C major scale?
The C major scale is C, D, E, F, G, A and B. Counting from the root C, the degrees are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
What is the formula for the C major scale?
The step pattern is W-W-H-W-W-W-H. Read left to right from C: whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then half step (1 fret), then whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then half step (1 fret). Apply the same pattern from any other note and you get that note's major scale.
What chords are in the key of C major?
The seven diatonic chords are C (I), Dm (ii), Em (iii), F (IV), G (V), Am (vi), Bdim (vii°). Across the 80 song sheets on this site those chords appear 1132 times in total.
Is the C major scale the same as A natural minor?
Yes. C major and A natural minor contain exactly the same notes: C, D, E, F, G, A and B. They are relative keys. Centre the melody on C and it sounds like C major; centre it on A and the same notes sound like A natural minor.
What is the easiest fingering for the C major scale?
The position above starts on the A string at fret 3 and stays inside frets 1 to 5: C at fret 3 on the A, then D at fret 5 on the A, then E at fret 2 on the D, then F at fret 3 on the D, then G at fret 5 on the D, then A at fret 2 on the G, then B at fret 4 on the G. Everything else on the neck is the same notes repeated in other positions.
How do I practise the C major scale?
Play the position in frets 1 to 5 up and back, naming every note out loud. When the shape is automatic, build the same shape from the next C up the neck, at fret 8 on the low E string, and only then add a metronome at 60 BPM.

More C scales

C natural minorC major pentatonicC minor pentatonicC blues

This scale in other keys

C# majorD majorEb majorE majorF majorF# majorG majorAb majorAll 60 scale charts
Previous keyB bluesNext keyC natural minor