Ionian (Major)
This scale is also known by other names: Major, C Major.
2 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 1About Ionian (Major)
The F major scale has one flat, B♭, and it is the first step onto the flat side of the key system. On guitar that single flat is enough to change everything: the tonic chord requires a barre, and the comfortable open shapes of C and G are suddenly out of reach.
The notes
F G A B♭ C D E, then F. Only one note differs from C major — B becomes B♭ — and that is the mirror of the sharp side, where G major differed from C by one sharp.
The B♭ sits between A and C, filling the gap that in C major is a whole tone. On guitar it is found at the first fret of the A string or the third of the G, neither of which is an open note.
On the fretboard
Open position covers the scale but unevenly: F, B♭ and the upper C all need fretting, and the hand shifts. The movable shape from the first fret with the root on the low E is the more useful form, and it is the same shape as the F major barre chord.
The chords are F, Gm, Am, B♭, C, Dm. Two barres, and both of them — F and B♭ — are the ones beginners find hardest. That is why songs in F are often capoed to be played in C or G.
Where it is used
Piano music sits comfortably in F, and so does a great deal of vocal writing, because the key falls well for many voices. It is also common in jazz, one step from B♭ on the circle of fifths.
Its relative minor is D minor, sharing the single flat. Dm–B♭–F–C is a progression heard constantly in pop, and all four chords come from this scale.
Related Scales from Diatonic
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