Ionian (Major)
This scale is also known by other names: Major, C Major.
2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 1About Ionian (Major)
The B major scale has five sharps — F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯ and A♯ — and it is where the sharp side of the key system starts to feel remote. On guitar it is played almost entirely with barre shapes; on a violin it lies awkwardly; on a piano it fits the hand better than its signature suggests.
The notes
B C♯ D♯ E F♯ G♯ A♯, then B. Only two notes, B and E, are natural. That density of accidentals is why the key is written less often than its sound would justify — notation, not acoustics, decides.
The scale is a semitone below C major and shares no key signature with it at all. Transposing a song from C to B is one of the largest jumps in written complexity for one of the smallest changes in pitch.
On the fretboard
From the seventh fret with the root on the low E string, the standard movable major shape applies without modification. That is the usual place guitarists play it, precisely because nothing is open and nothing needs to be.
The chords — B, C♯m, D♯m, E, F♯, G♯m — are all barres except E. In practice this key arrives on guitar through a capo: capo at the fourth fret and play in G, or at the second and play in A.
Where it is used
Vocal music that needs a specific range, and instruments where sharp keys are comfortable. Songs recorded in B are often songs written in another key and moved to fit a singer.
Its relative minor is G♯ minor, which shares all five sharps. Both are more common in electronic and pop production, where the key is chosen by transposing a file rather than by fingering.
Related Scales from Diatonic
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