Within the key of F#/Gb major, you can make various chord sequences and work them out using this numbering system, but remember that F#/Gb major is your tonic, and is where the key will sound resolved and at home.
Once you’re familiar with the scale, you’ll do well to remember that the formula for an F# major chord (and any tonic major chord of any key) is 1-3-5 which gives the notes F#-A#-C# while the formula for a Gb major chord is 1-3-5 which gives the notes Gb-Bb-Db. while for Gb major, the Gb is a 1, the Ab is a 2 etc. F# is much more common than Gb, so we’ll approach most of the chords below from the F# perspective.Įach of these notes (degrees of the scale) can be assigned a number as it ascends so you can use a helpful formula to work out chords from it. Hence is why if you take a look at the scales above, each note is the enharmonic equivalent of each other, so if you played an F# major scale out of context, it would be completely impossible to determine whether it was F# or Gb.įor example, in a key with flattened notes, then you’ll (normally) be playing a Gb if you need to use that note, but in a key with sharps, then it’ll (normally) be a F#. Sort of… Technically a F# and a Gb are exactly the same, they just appear in different contexts. You may have noticed that we’re looking at two scales here. On a guitar, the 1/2 means the next fret is in the scale, and the 1 means there will be a fret in between the two notes.
On a piano, the ‘1’ means that if you’re starting on the C, then there will be one note (Eb in this case) between your C and the next note of the scale (D), while the 1/2 means that the next note of the scale is directly next door (such as in the move from E-F in C major). Every major scale has the same theory behind it, building on a pattern of tones between the notes: 1-1-1/2-1-1-1-1/2.