A scale is basically a set of notes arranged in some specific order or sequence. If you change this sequence, you will get a different scale. Though the Major scale and the natural Minor scale are the most popular scales and you find lots of songs based on these scales, these are not the only scales. If you’re a beginner, you will be expected to spend considerable amount of time practicing the scales.
Introduction
When someone says that a song is in the key of C, they mean the song uses notes from the C scale, and its Key Signature is the C scale.
The composer may throw in a few sharp or flat notes to create some tension in the song but it will always return back to the notes from the C scale.
Every song is based on a particular key; it is more like a home to that song.
On a music sheet, a key is identified by its key signature – the sharps and flats that are placed right at the beginning of the first bar.
A song could be based on any of the 12 different key signatures; each of these will tell you what sharps or flats will be used in the song.
Transposing
Keys are also useful because it helps composers and performers to change the range of the sound. For example, if a singer has a limited range and cannot sing high notes but at the same time her tone quality is unique which the composer wants to use, the composer can change the song to a lower key to accommodate the singer’s sound range.
Changing the key of a song is also known as “Transposing”.
Scales vs Keys vs Modes
- A scale is a collection of notes (combination of whole steps and half steps). A key is a like a nickname for a specific scale.
- Not all scales can be completely described by a key (especially the ones in world music)
- The modes of a scale are what you get when you start the scale on different degrees. Keys don’t have modes; scales do.
Major Scale
How to Play Major Scale (& Sound Happy)
Major scales, in general, sound happier compared to the minor scales.
Every octave has seven white keys and five black keys (total of 12 different keys). So any type of scale you take, you can actually play it in 12 different keys; same applies to major scales as well.
Here’s a quick overview of the 12 different Major scales (Thumb is finger number one. RH stands for right hand. LH stands for left hand).
C Major scale – Only white notes! No sharps or flats.
RH 123 1234 123 12345
LH 54321 321 4321 321
G – Only one black key i.e. F sharp
RH 123 1234 123 12345
LH 54321 321 4321 321
D – Two black keys. F sharp and C sharp
RH 123 1234 123 12345
LH 54321 321 4321 321
A – Three black keys. F sharp, C sharp, and G sharp
RH 123 1234 123 12345
LH 54321 321 4321 321
E – Four black keys. F sharp, C sharp, G sharp, and D sharp
RH 123 1234 123 12345
LH 54321 321 4321 321
B – Five black keys. F sharp, C sharp, G sharp, D sharp, and A sharp
RH 123 1234 123 12345
LH 4321 4321 321 4321
Now that covers all the keys having sharps. Next we will move onto the keys having flats.
F Major scale – One black key i.e. B flat
RH 1234 123 1234 1234
LH 54321 321 4321 321
B flat – Two black keys. B flat and E flat
RH 2123 1234 123 1234
LH 321 4321 321 43212
E flat – Three black keys. B flat, E flat, and A flat
RH 2 1234 123 1234 123
LH 321 4321 321 4321 2
A flat – Four black keys. B flat, E flat, A flat, and D flat
RH 23 123 1234 123 123
LH 321 4321 321 4321 2
D flat – Five black keys. B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, and G flat
RH 23 1234 123 1234 12
LH 321 4321 321 4321 2
G flat – Six black keys. B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, G flat, and C flat
RH 234 123 1234 123 12
LH 4321 321 4321 321 2
Minor Scale
Learn How to Play the Minor Scale – Its As important as the Major!
If you carefully listen to the songs that are based on the minor scale, you will realize that the songs tend to have a sad feeling to it. Songs based on the Major scale, on the other hand, sound happy. It does not mean that the minor scale is less important; the only thing is that the songs based on this scale tend to have a tinge of sadness and it gives you a totally different feeling.
Consists of Eight Notes
The Minor scale is similar to the major scale in the sense that minor scales also have eight notes with the first and the last notes having the same name. But thats where the difference ends. The combination of whole steps and half steps is different in this scale from the major scale.
The minor scale can contain both white keys as well as black keys and just like the major scales, they can be based on 12 different keys.
Three different Minor Scales
When people refer to minor scale, most of the time they mean the natural minor scale. There are also two other variations of minor scale, known as Harmonic minor scale and Melodic minor scale but here we will discuss only the Natural minor scale.
Example of a Natural Minor Scale
The easiest Minor scale to remember is the A minor scale. Reason being it is exactly similar to the C Major scale.
A Minor scale – Only white notes! No sharps or flats.
Notes – A B C D E F G A
The fingering for this scale based on 2 octaves will be as follows.
RH 123 1234 123 12345
LH 54321 321 4321 321
A Minor Scale Piano – Natural Minor, Melodic Minor and Harmonic Minor
Here’s a video showing how to play the A Minor Scale on Piano (relative to C Major), all three variations that is Natural Minor, Melodic Minor and Harmonic Minor, and how to practice them.
The A minor scale is usually the first of all the minor scales that a beginner piano student learns. That is because it has the maximum number of white keys and most beginners are comfortable playing on the white keys initially.
Harmonic Minor Scale
Within minor scales, you have the natural minor as well as harmonic minor scales.
Notes on a Harmonic Minor scale
There is only one difference between a Harmonic Minor scale and a Natural minor scale; the 7th note is raised by one half step. Basically, you will have to sharpen the seventh note. To understand it more clearly, let us take an example.
Example
We will take the example of the A minor scale.
A Natural Minor scale – Only white notes! No sharps or flats.
Notes – A B C D E F G A
A Harmonic Minor scale – The seventh note G changes to G sharp.
Notes – A B C D E F G# A
Though the difference is not much, the resulting scale does sound different if you listen to it carefully.
Chromatic Scale
The chromatic scale is a scale, which includes all the notes in an octave, i.e. all the white keys as well as the black keys. Since it contains all the notes, you can use it while playing any song.
So if you start on the C note, the scale would contain the following notes.
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C
The fingering for this scale will be as follows.
RH 1313 123 1313 12
LH 1313 213 1313 21
How do you use it?
Players generally use notes of the chromatic scale to fill gaps within songs. One way they do is to start on any note of a chord and then play the chromatic notes to reach some other note of the same chord that is being played with the left hand. You can do some fiddling and figure out other ways to do it as well. As long as it sounds good, it is probably correct.
Whole Tone Scale
Whole Tone Scale consists of only whole tones and no semitones. It means the distance between two consecutive notes in this scale is one whole tone (or 2 semi tones).
Example
So let us take an example for the Whole Tone scale. The example will clearly show you how the notes are arranged in this scale.
Notes on the Whole Tone scale!
C D E F# G# A# C
The fingering for this scale based on 2 octaves will be as follows.
RH 1,2,1,2,3,4,1,2,1,2,3,4,5
LH 3,2,1,4,3,2,1,2,1,4,3,2,1
Uses
If you hear the notes on the Whole tone scale, you will realize that you have probably heard this sound being played behind many movie scenes. This is a common background sound whenever somebody goes from reality into his dreams.
Pentatonic Scale
Pentatonic scale is very easy to play, it has just 5 notes. It is also known as the Asian scale.
Structure of a Pentatonic scale
This scale has five notes and that is the reason it is referred to as pentatonic. Like others, even this scale can be played in 12 different keys.
In the C key, the scale would contain the following notes.
C D F G A C
This scale is also used in Indian as well as Oriental music. Lot of modern music is also based on this scale. You will also find lots of songs, labeled as World Music, that are based on this scale.
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