I'll make the theory on this as simple as I can. In simple terms a scale is a pattern of notes. We have 12 notes in music. Most common scales use 7 or 5 notes. The major scale is the most common and it's what all music theory is based on so it's very important we understand it.
First we need to understand what an interval is. It's the distance between two notes. For the major scale we need to know two intervals the are
Major 2nd know as a Tone or a Step, Two frets on the guitar
Minor 2nd know as a Semitone or Half step, One fret on the guitar
Simply put, to play a major scale. We start on a note then move up..
Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone.
Don't worry about notes just yet, If you start on any note and then use this pattern you will get a major scale. For all music theory we use numbers and this is where the numbers come from. The major scale in numbers is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 (the last 1 being an octave higher so we can call that 8 too
All other scales are numbered compared to the major scale. We can move some of these notes up and down or take some out and get different scales.
So if I move the 7 in the same a semitone lower it becomes a b7 and then the scale becomes a Mixolydian scale and is spelt 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 1
If we take the notes 4 and 7 out of a major scale it becomes a 5 note scale called the Major Pentatonic scale and this is spelt 1 2 3 5 6 1
Don't worry if you don't understand what I was talking about with the last two scales. You only need to know this for now...
The Major scale pattern is:
Start on a note then move up Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone.
The major scale in number is: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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