Piano Scales - The Four Most Important To Know
There are several dozen piano scales in all, such as major, minor, pentatonic and many more, but there are four piano scales that are really the most important for anyone that wants to learn to play piano music. You are going to discover exactly what those scales are and the quickest way to play them on a piano.
First of all, if you are going to being learning piano scales, you need to understand the meaning of half steps and whole steps. A half step is just the distance from one musical note to the next musical not. As an example, the distance between notes D and E is a half step. So, a whole step is two half steps. For example, if your D note is on your sheet music between the lines, then a full step will be the next note that is between the lines, and that note is an F. So the distance from D to F is one whole step. On this page about learning how to play scales on a piano, I’m going to call steps with an H and whole steps with a W.
The first set of piano scales you need to know are called “major scales” and they are the most common kind of scales you'll find in Western music. To play a major scale, you start off on the root note and play a formula of W-W-H-W-W-W-H. Doing that, you can learn how to find the major scale of any key.
The 2nd set of piano scales to learn about are called “natural minor scales” and they are also very common in music. Same as the major scales, except you simply need to play a different pattern or formula. To play a natural minor scale, you again start off with the root note and play the following: W-H-W-W-H-W-W. Doing that, you’ll learn that the notes of the C natural minor scale are C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C and the notes for the F natural minor scale are F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F.
The third important set of piano scales you need to know about is called the “melodic minor scales”. For playing a melodic minor scale, you start with the root note just as you did the others and play this: W-H-W-W-W-W-H. By following that formula, you will find that the notes of the C melodic minor scale are C-D-Eb-F-G-A-B-C and the notes that make up the F melodic minor scale are F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-E-F.
The last set of piano scales that any aspiring pianist should learn is called the “harmonic minor scale.” The only difference between this set of scales and the melodic minor scale mentioned in the paragraph above, is the sixth note. For this harmonic minor scale, instead of going up one whole step from the fifth note, you go up one and a half whole steps (three half steps). The music notes that make up the C harmonic minor scale are C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C and the F harmonic minor scale are notes F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-E-F.
These four scales are absolutely the most important scales a piano player needs to know. You should choose a key and learn these four scales prior to advancing up to the next key. It won’t be long and you'll be able to play all of the piano scales quite easily. There are some really great piano lesson courses available where you can teach yourself how to play piano, and you can learn it in the comfort of your own home in a short amount of time, for a lot less money than traditional piano lessons. Don’t be scared to try to teach yourself piano, it's easier than you think!Click Here for ROCKET PIANO - The Ultimate Piano Learning Kit