Originally Posted by: strat-manDo you mean notes or chords? i'm confused (easily done) i've just started learning theory and i thought that the major scale was constructed from tones? whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half, and that the chords from the scale were major-minor-minor-major-major-minor-diminished? :confused:

You are correct with the above. A note is a note. It is neither Major or minor
What decides that is the Third interval for both scales and chords.
Example: Many players use "Power chords" which are the 1st (Root note) and the Fifth note, so technically a Power chord is neither Major or minor because the third note is absent from the chord structure.
Fret Spider gave a great example of thirds, check out his post.