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D Major Scale - D string
Every major scale consists of a pattern of notes defined by the "intervals" between notes. If you look at the piano keyboard you can see white and black keys. There are 12 semitones in an octave, which on the piano means 12 keys (13 if you include the octave note). On the guitar a fret takes the place of the keys.
There is a semitone between each note. Sometimes (in two cases per octave) there is no black note between adjacent white notes. In this case there is only a semitone between adjacent white notes (between E-F and B-C).
The pattern of whole tone intervals (W) and semitone intervals (H for "half") is as follows: W-W-H-W-W-W-H. This pattern applies to all major scales. The diagram below, where we show the G major scale up the G string offers perhaps a clearer explanation.