It can be challenging for a newcomer to know which piano scales to learn first and in what order. Starting with a few scales makes the most sense, but as you go further, your approach should become more flexible. Using the guidelines below, you can better understand the best scales to learn first on piano.
What is a scale?
You might be wondering what a scale is, and why should I study it. Well, a scale is a group of notes in music that are arranged in a certain frequency or pitch. Scales are the basis of most musical compositions, with a single scale acting as both the melody and the harmony.
Learn The C Major Scale: The C Major Scale is generally the first scale that most piano students learn. It could be referred to as the easiest scale because it is free of sharps and flats. It consists of all white, otherwise known as natural, keys. On the piano keyboard, a scale, also referred to as an octave, is made up of eight notes, beginning with Middle C. It ends on the subsequent C note.
Next, Try the C Major Scale With Your Left Hand: Start on the bottom C with the pinky of your left hand. Play D next with your fourth finger, then E with your third finger, F with your second finger, and G with your thumb. Play the A with your third finger, the B with your second, and the C with your thumb, crossing your third finger over your thumb to finish.
Lastly, Combine Both Hands: Now combine them and simultaneously play the right and left hands of the C major scale. Maintaining proper finger positioning of each hand is an important concern when using both hands. This may be difficult for new piano folks to learn, and if you learn it wrong, it may be difficult to recall it immediately after.
Practice: You could at first feel playing scales on your piano hard and boring. You may say “Come on, I want to play some real music”. The majority of musicians believe that the best way to get there is to be comfortable with your scales up, down, forward, and backward. One of the greatest resources for learning scales is online resources and courses. These courses include finger employing advice and scale practices for both hands working together as well as for each hand separately.
Learn The Next Scale: After understanding the C Major Scale, many artists continue their training with the G Major Scale. As an illustration, the G Major Scale starts on G, therefore moving up the scale, you would cross over with your thumb on the right hand at C and your third finger on the left hand at E. For all scales, the finger arrangement is the same, and the crossing over is also the same on each hand, just on various notes.
Practice Again: You should continue to practice primary scales. You should first master those with natural keys before studying those with sharps or flats. Practice your scales one hand at a time patiently before combining both. This will allow you to know for sure that you have mastered the proper finger technique of each hand. Everyday, make an effort to understand just one scale. You don’t want to become bored or confused too easily because of the feelings of procrastination which can make you stop learning the piano.
Move On To The Harder Scales: Next there are melodic scales, also referred to as jazz minor scales. These are a little different, and beginners are not required to learn them. In order to create a melodic minor scale’s descending form, the sixth and seventh scale degrees are reduced by a half step to their original pitches. It is the same as the natural minor scale.
Final Thoughts: It’s never too late to start learning piano. The mental and physical benefits apply to all ages. If you want to learn more about piano, we recommend learning from youtube. Why? Because youtube is free and it has all the knowledge you need. The only issue with YouTube is that it is not organized as an online course. Yes, it helps when each video is arranged like chapters in a book. You can use Career Ninja‘s Learn Tube to do just that. The platform arranges Youtube videos into a course-like format. If you want to learn “Piano tutorial” search that term on LearnTube and it will show you a bunch of videos like an online course. As a beginner, you’ll click through the videos from the first to the last, as if you were taking an online course tailored specifically for you.
