: Note naming convention while creating scales I am having some trouble with naming notes in a major scale. The major scale formula is 0 , 1, 1 , 1/2 , 1 , 1 , 1 , 1/2 If I use this formula to calculate notes in G# major

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Your formula of half- and whole-steps is correct, but the spelling is not.

Different ways of spelling the same pitch are called Enharmonics. You already know that all of the "black key" notes on the piano have more than one name, but you can also alter notes further than a semitone, or make an alteration to two "white keys" that are next to one another.

You are already familiar with b/# notation: accidentals that modify the pitch by a half step, or semitone. There are also double-sharp and double-flat accidentals that modify by whole steps, or by two semitones.

The reason for using these is to spell every note in the scale with a distinct letter name, and thus, distinct and orderly placement on the musical staff. With enough accidentals, I could spell the "G#" scale as, say...

G# Bb B# B## Eb E# G G#

But written out on a staff this would be pretty incomprehensible, especially for someone sightreading.

To solve this problem, we start with every note name on the staff:

G A B C D E F G

... and then modify those notes with accidentals to suit the scale in question:

G# A# B# C# D# E# F## G#

Now, this is still a lot of symbology on the page, so to simplify, we use key signatures to put all of this information in one place. Double sharps are almost never used in key signatures, however, so as others have mentioned, the typical spelling of this scale would be its enharmonic equivalent of Ab major (which only has four flats as opposed to 8 sharps).

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To provide a very simple answer ,as above are complex. You are aware of the notes which constitute G major. To arrive at G# major, simply # each and every note of G. This will give ## on occasions, so that's correct. Since the formula TTSTTTS works for a major scale, it will work for all of them. HOWEVER, G# is such an impractical key to work in, no-one uses it. Why would they, when Ab contains exactly the same notes when played, but only 4 bs when written.

One could take this to ridiculous ends, and write, for example, in Cb, with loads of flats, but B maj., with 'only' 5 #s , would make life easier, wouldn't it ?

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Welcome to the tricky world of standard notation :)

Scales need to be "spelled" in a very exacting way.
There are also things like double sharps (X) and double flats (bb) to think about.

rules:

start with spelling of 7 scale tones per keysig's sharp else flat
7 tones of scale ALL on DIFFerent letters
if minor, M6 and M7 are ALWAYS m6,m7 SHARPED (naturaled flat/doublesharped) since "sort of in the scale as almost tones"
SINGLE LETTER for tonic, dominant - not duped even for tones outside scale
no letter used 3 times when making outside the scale tones (2 =max=)

checking:

vertically, sharps should read fcgdaeb
vertically, flats should read beadgcf
cols should have SAME letter: 2,3 4,5 6,7 9,10 11,12

So the usual spellings work out like this:

==================== MAJOR KEYS =================== ! means PLAIN cuz ksig
xx xx xx xx xx % means natural
flats KEY m2 M2 m3 M3 4 tri DOM m6 M6 m7 M7 d double flat, x db shp
0 C db D eb E F f# G ab A bb B
1 F gb G ab A B! b% C db D eb E
2 B! cb C db D E! e% F gb G ab A
3 E! fb F gb G A! a% B! cb C db D
4 A! bd B! cb C D! d% E! fb F gb G
5 D! ed E! fb F G! g% A! bd B! cb C
6 G! ad A! bd B! C! c% D! ed E! fb F or F#
7 C! dd D! ed E! F! f% G! ad A! bd B! B in sharps preferred

xx xx xx xx xx
sharps KEY m2 M2 m3 M3 4 tri DOM m6 M6 m7 M7
1 G ab A bb B C c# D eb E f% F!
2 D eb E f% F! G g# A bb B c% C!
3 A bb B c% C! D d# E f% F! g% G!
4 E f% F! g% G! A a# B c% C! d% D!
5 B c% C! d% D! E e# F! g% G! a% A!
6 F! g% G! a% A! B b# C! d% D! e% E! or Gb
7 C! d% D! e% E! F! fx G! a% A! b% B! Db in flats preferred

==================== MINOR KEYS ===================
xx xx xx %# %#
flats KEY m2 M2 m3 M3 4 tri DOM m6 M6 m7 M7
0 A bb B C c# D d# E F f# G g#
1 D eb E F f# G g# A B! b% C c#
2 G ab A B! b% C c# D E! e% F f#
3 C db D E! e% F f# G A! a% B! b%
4 F gb G A! a% B! b% C D! d% E! e%
5 B! cb C D! d% E! e% F G! g% A! a%
6 E! fb F G! g% A! a% B! C! c% D! d%
7 A! bd B! C! c% D! d% E! F! f% G! g%

xx xx xx #x #x
sharps KEY m2 M2 m3 M3 4 tri DOM m6 M6 m7 M7
1 E f% F! G g# A a# B C c# D d#
2 B c% C! D d# E e# F! G g# A a#
3 F! g% G! A a# B b# C! D d# E e#
4 C! d% D! E e# F! fx G! A a# B b#
5 G! a% A! B b# C! cx D! E e# F! fx
6 D! e% E! F! fx G! gx A! B b# C! cx
7 A! b% B! C! cx D! dx E! F! fx G! gx

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I'm not completely sure about this, but I remember reading about the circle of fifths (linked) that among other things, it also shows how many sharps or flats there are in each key.
So for example if you are talking about the key of F#, it should have 6 sharp notes in it, so you would be using all the "sharp" names for the notes and not the "flat" or "regular" names.

Also, I'm pretty sure that as a general rule, you would never use a "flat name" for describing the notes in a "sharp" key scale, and vice versa.

Hope this helps, and I also hope I'm not wrong or misleading, because I'm not 100% sure about this.