F#,C#,G# Major Diatonic Scales
How can these scales contain E# and B# notes that dont exist on the chromatic scale? Am I just way behind the curve or what?
Thanks! Biscuit Boy in Petaluma
Good morning Biscuit Boy. The key thing to focus on is that you can't use the same note name twice in a structural scale, otherwise analysis of both the melody and chords gets messed up.
For example...
The C# Major Scale is C# D# E# F# G# etc...
If you spell the C# scale as C# D# F F# G# you achieve the same pitches, but watch what happens to your analysis.
In the first scale you have C# D# E# F# G# and the scale degrees would be 1 2 3 4 5. The second version you get 1 2 b4 (flat-4) 4 5. The "F" designation is ONLY designated as the 4th Scale Degree, so an F is analyzed as a b4, which changes the understanding of that sequence of notes dramatically.
The same applies for a chord. The I Chord (one chord) should be C# E# G#... but it would be C# F G# the other way, again, instead of being 1 3 5 (root, 3rd and 5th) you get 1 b4 5 (root, flat-4 and 5th) which would make a musician think that there's something special happening there... some sort of an inverted substitution chord.
So, simply put, a sharp raises a note... F# is a half step higher than F. F## is two half steps higher than F (equivalent to G). Naming conventions are strict so that when looking at a melody or chord, you understand what's happening sequentially in that specific key. As a musician you know that F## is the G key, so on the piano you will play G and all is well. There is a little bit of translating to be done, but it's part of the art.
B# is an enarmonic equivalent (i.e., another name for) C; E# is an enarmonic equivalent of F.
You use those notes when spelling a C# major scale to avoid duplicating letters.