what is a major,minor and a pentatonic scale?

Question

i need to no what there are if some one knows can thay please tell me thank you

Answer 1

W: Whole step.
H: Half step.

Major scale: WWHWWWH. If you're looking at piano keyboard, start at C, and play C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C - this is a major scale with C as the tonic note.

Minor scale: WHWWHWW. Beginning on C again, it will be C, D, E flat, F, G, A flat, B flat, C.

A pentatonic scale might sound familiar if you play it - it is used a lot in asian music. It is a scale of five notes. C-D-E-G-A is a pentatonic scale; I won't give you the intervals (half/whole steps) because it will probably be confusing.

I hope this wasn't too difficult to understand... I understand it, but I'm not the best at teaching it to someone who doesn't know anything about music.

If you go to http://musictheory.net/, that should explain it much better!

Answer 2

The type of scale is determined by the intervals between notes; for a major scale, the interval is: w,w,h,w,w,w,h (w = whole steps and h = half-steps, and 3 = step-and-a-half). For a natural minor, the steps are w,h,w,w,h,w,w; there are also two other types of minor scales, the "harmonic" minor (w,h,w,w,h,3,h), and the "melodic" minor (which is w,h,w,w,w,w,h on the way up, but the same as the natural minor on the way back down). For a pentatonic ("five-tone") scale, it's a little different, as there are only 5 notes, as the name implies (not ALL scales have 8 notes); there are also steps that are three half-steps, so that the intervals are w,w,3,w,3. There is also a whole-tone scale, in which all the intervals are whole tones; since there's no half-tone in it, there's no "leading" tone, so it tends to sounds a little ethereal and other-worldly, and that's often the mood it's used to set.

As to distinguishing them - it's mostly a question of getting used to how they sound, and that takes listening and practice.

Answer 3

In a scale, there are 8 notes, let's label them 1-8. The intervals between each number are "steps." In a major scale the intervals are: from 1 to 2 a whole step, 2 to 3 whole step, 3 to 4 half step, 4 to 5 whole step, 5 to 6 whole step, 6 to 7 whole step, and 7 to 8 half step.
Basically, while looking at a keyboard, an example of a half step would be going from a white key to a black key. If you go from a white key to a white key (and there's a black key in between) you've made a whole step.
The pattern of a minor scale would be from 1 to 2 whole step, 2 to 3 half step, 3 to 4 whole step, 4 to 5 whole step, 5 to 6 whole step, and 7 to 8 half step. The only difference from the Major scale is that the 3 note is lowered a half step.
The difference to your ear: Major scale is associated with a "happy" sound, while minor is associated with "sad" sound.
Sorry this may sound confusing, music theory can be.
Pentatonic scale is only based on 5 notes though....but I don't know how to explain that any clearer than mud, or than the major and minor scales. Hope it helped.