Originally Posted by: axemaster911
It is my understanding that the Major scale has the intervals of a
whole step-whole step-half step-whole step-whole step-whole step-half
And the Minor scale has the intervals of-
whole step-half step-whole step-whole step-half step-whole step-whole step
It seems that there may be some confusion between minor scale, and flats, and sharps in the major scale from the statements I read above, but thats just me, I am not going to try and make this any more confusing than I possibly have too. But I do know that Major is the interval of ws-ws-hs,
and minor is the interval of ws-hs, and so on.
Just learning the diatonic scale can be the easiest way to start making sense of music theroy, and that is the cold hard truth in its simplest form !

There are some interesting statements in the above quote that may help eliminate some confusion when studying theory in simple terms.
First off, Knowing the intervals that make up a scale should be understood as a formula or a pattern ( the same pattern works for all notes that you start the interval formula on, ie. Major formula= Major Scale of the Starting note, minor formula= minor scale, Harmonic minor formula = etc.....).
Theory teaches you how to understand the connection between certain notes (Major, minor, 7th's, etc...) and how they complement each other or don't.
Second, a scale (Major, minor, etc......) will never have both sharp and flat notes mixed in the same scale. It will be one or the other.
Although it is mainly used in Staff (reading music) the # or b note will be used to eliminate confusion.
Example: G, G# would not be written to avoid having 2 G's. It would be G,Ab.
Make sense?