Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double its frequency so that it is called a higher octave of the same note (from Latin "octavus", the eighth). The notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B form a prototypical major scale.

Some lesser-used scales are also sometimes called major scales, such as the harmonic major scale, the melodic major scale, and the Lydian