Piano Scales For Beginners

Scales are an important step in learning the basics of any instrument, and this is especially important on the piano. Playing and practicing your scales is a great way to improve your technique, be useful for playing new songs, and can serve as building blocks for creating interesting and captivation melodies.

But, where do you start?

What Is A Scale?

You might be asking, “What exactly is a scale and why is it important to learn?” A scale is a set of musical notes ordered by pitch or frequency. Scales make up the backbone of most musical pieces, with a single scale providing the melody and harmony.

Scales typically span an octave, which is eight keys, say, for example, from C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. That’s an octave. (There are other types of scales, which we won’t get into now for simplicity’s sake).

First, Learn The C Major Scale

The C Major Scale is the scale that most who have studied the piano traditionally learn first. It might be called the easiest scale, as it contains no sharps or flats (it consists of all white, otherwise known as natural, keys). Starting with Middle C on the piano’s keyboard, a scale is eight notes, otherwise known as an octave. It ends on the next C note.

• Fingering is key. You must learn proper fingering to play the C Major Scale. If you begin with your right thumb on Middle C, play the next two notes (D and E) with your second and third fingers. Then cross your thumb under your third finger and place it on the next note, F. It is easy to then continue the scale with your second, third, fourth and fifth fingers on G, A, B and ending on C with your pinky.

• Reverse the scale. Make sure to use the same fingering when you come back down the scale. (Fifth finger, fourth, third, second, thumb, cross over thumb with third finger, second, thumb).

Keep Practicing Until It Feels Natural

Playing scales on your piano might feel a bit awkward at first and might be boring to you as a new piano student. C’mon, you might say, I want to play actual music! The best way to get there, most musicians agree, is to know your scales up and down, forwards and backwards.

Move On To The Next Major Scale, G.

Once you have mastered the C Major Scale, many people move on to learn the next common scale, the G Major Scale. The fingering is the same premise for all scales, with the crossing over being the same on each hand, just on different notes (i.e., the G Major Scale starts on G, so you’d cross over on the right hand with your thumb at C going up the scale; while on the left hand, you’d cross over with your third finger at E).

C and G are great scales to start with. If you’d like to learn how to play more scales or are interested in piano lessons, click here.