The main scales of western music are major and minor scales. The natural minor scale is the naturally occurring diatonic scale with no altered scale degrees or added accidentals. In these videos, i teach students about harmonic minor scales, using staff notation and piano examples. How to play and practice scales and arpeggios for pianists. How to form major pentatonic scales on piano one way of forming the pentatonic is to use the following formula after picking the starting note of the scale.
From each key on the piano you can start either a major or a minor scale. Here ive organised them in groups of fingering rather than keys. In jazz, the modes of the melodic minor scale are very widely used. Harmonic minor scale fingerings pdf best piano tips. Major and minor scales contain seven notes or scale degrees. Blues scales in the most used keys in both music notation and. The pentatonic scale, major and minor free piano lessons. The idea behind doing this was basically that i couldnt find any chord diagrams that werent either being charged for or. Playing scales on piano has the added benefit of encouraging visual memory. Bellingham music teachers association scale and arpeggio fingering chart for piano major and minor scales and arpeggios two octaves chromatic scale. The relative minor for a major key falls on the 6th tone of the major scale. Among all the scales and arpeggios, major and minor ones are a good place to start. Minor scales are built on the 6th scale degree of a major scale. Every piano scale and arpeggio that you will ever need.
This scale can sometimes confuse people because it is in a way identical to the major scale. Scales are the fundamentals of any piano learning course. We call scales relative if they share the same key signature. Chords for piano compiled by simon creedy please distribute freely the contents of this pdf file can be distributed freely and are available to everyone. A scale is a stepwise arrangement of notespitches contained within an octave. This selection and arrangement of content as a collection is. For the melodic scale in a, it will look like this. Each scale is provided as a separate pdf download with finger numbers above each note. Print and download in pdf or midi natural minor scales. The black keys on your piano are pentatonic and theyre in the key of g flat and its relative minor, e flat minor.
Free major and minor scales for piano sheet music dion moult. When you go up the scale, you are using the melodic minor scale, but when you go down the scale. Contrary to the major scale, there are not one but three minor scales, which all will be presented here. Alright, time to add scales to your technique training. Natural, harmonic and melodic forms about minor scales. Each minor scale has a di erent use and application in jazz piano and so learning how to construct and apply each one is an important skill.
In this guide, we will cover piano scales in depth and cover all major scales, minor scales, tones, semitones, chromatic scales briefly. Learn how to play piano chords, notes, scales, proper. Learning the major and minor scales for piano are one of the fundamental skills in a musicians education. The difference between these two scales is the pattern of whole and halfsteps that you use to build them. As we have already learned, a mode is a scale created by establishing a new root note within a preexisting scale. Natural minor scale a scale that contains halfsteps between 23 and 56 scale degrees the natural form. Major scales keyboard fingerings cmajor c d e f g a b c rh 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5. There are 12 major and 12 minor piano music scales. The two scales you use most frequently when you play the piano and the most famous scales in western music are the major and the minor scales. You can make a major and a minor scale starting with any note on the piano. Barbara murphy university of tennessee school of music major and minor scales half and whole steps. All keys are shown, including the commonly used 12 keys of the circle of fifths diagram, and other theoretical ie. A minor scale a b c d e f g a ww e minor scale e f. Every scale determines a key,that is an harmonic combunation of tones based on that scale.
The a minor scale include exactly the same notes as the c major scale which makes them relative keys read. You can learn how to form other melodic and harmonic minor scales at our main piano music scales section. The melodic minor scale differs from the natural minor scale by the sixth and seventh notes, which are raised a semistep. Melodic minor scales jyttes piano sheet collection. The most common scales when playing the piano, are major and minor scales. We are already familiar with the modes of the major scale, but we can create modes from any preexisting scale. All 12 major scales share the same pattern of whole and half steps between the notes.
Scales, arpeggios and cadences, two octaves margaret denton, piano major scales, arpeggios, and cadences, 2 octaves these scales are arranged pianistically by groups according to fingering patterns to facilitate memorization harmonic form of the minor scale is shown. Play scales very slowly with big bows keeping an even tone across the bow stroke practice scales with a drone pitch using the first note of the scale memorize the scales occasionally use a tuner to help you tune each pitch. The scale in all keys can be downloaded as a pdffile. These make great handouts for piano teachers to use with students. Easy piano sheet music free, the snake charmer, now with an easiertoread arrangement just for young, socially distant students. Harmonic minor scales flute lexcerpts sheet music for. Meter, scales, and key signatures because the white keys running from c to the next c an octave higher form a sequence of notes that have minor 2nds only between ef the 3rd and 4th notes and bc the 7th and 8th notes, musicians call that series of notes a c major scale. This page shows piano and treble clef diagrams of all minor scales, starting from note c. This pack includes ten pages of scales with the following features.
Starting from any key on the piano you can play a scale. All scales are made with a specific pattern of whole steps tones and half steps semitones. Download free piano sheet music for major, minor harmonic, and minor melodic scales for all keys. We provide downloads for common scales including major, the three minor scales natural, harmonic, and melodic, the blues scale, and others. Answers on page 7 a closer look at the major and minor pentatonic scales in the traditional ionian major and aeolian natural minor scales, there exists a tritone augmented 4 th diminished 5 th between the 4 th and 7 th. Jazz piano lessons stepbystep lessons to master jazz theory. Then notate its relative minor scale and its scale degrees.
Basically, each of the twelve notes in an octave c, csharp, d, dsharp, e, f, fsharp, g, gsharp, a, asharp, and b can be the beginning of a scale, and the scale is named by the beginning note. Feel free to send these videos to parents for their kids to watch, use it in group lessons or as part of lab time. The key difference between major and minor scaes is that notes on a major scale sound bright and cheerful, while notes on a minor scale sound solemn and sad. Label the scale degrees of the major pentatonic scales. Scales include major, harmonic minor, and melodic minor varieties.
There are 3 groups and its easier to learn a particular finger pattern and apply it to the group rather than learn each scale separately. When you go up the scale, you are using the melodic minor scale, but when you go down the scale you are using the natural minor scale. Major and minor harmonic and melodic scales, 4 octaves, hands together, correct fingerings. Melodic minor modes and altered scale the jazz piano site. In music, the term scale refers to a pattern of notes ordered by pitch. You can easily see them as 7 white keys, and 5 black.
Download our piano scale finger charts for the major scale, harmonic minor scale and more. Free printable pdf downloads with notes and fingerings for scales in every key. Listen to mccoy tyner and john coltrane to get an understanding of the types of sounds created through improvising with pentatonic scales. The 3 types of minor scales in music musicnotes now. Every major and minor scale melodic and harmonic in both music notation and keyboard view. Minor scales are built on the 6thscale degree of a major scale to quickly find a major keys relative minor, count down 3 halfsteps from the tonic note of the major scale remember to start with the tonic then count downdont count. A minor scales, arpeggio and tonic triad for grade 1 piano students pdf sheet music. Single octave natural minor scales with fingerings for piano. Read download piano scales arpeggios pdf pdf download.
Harmonic minor scale and chords, natural and melodic minor. Look for the key function on the keyboard, titled voice. Major and minor pentatonic scales in the most used keys in both music notation and keyboard view. A scale is a series of notes pitches arranged from lowest to highest. How to explain harmonic minor scales to piano students. All minor scales illustrated with pictures including notes and fingerings. Translating to sharp, when the note needs to be raised by one semitone. The natural minor scale is often referred to simply as the minor scale. This scale is also some kind of peculiar since it is sometimes played differently ascending and descending. Once on the middle, count 4 keys to reach e the second note of the c chord. List of all natural minor scales piano music theory.
Minor scales cheat sheet harmonic minor raise the 7 th scale degree melodic minor raise the 6 th and 7 th scale degree ascending, revert to. Natural minor scales sheet music for piano download free. Natural, harmonic, and melodic forms margaret denton, piano. The three types of minor scales and how to form them. The eight notes in a scale with the first and last notes an. Remember, if youre looking at a major scale, lower scale degrees 3, 6, and 7 to get the minor scale. How to play piano chords playing a c chord turn on the keyboard by pressing the button titled power or onoff. We call scales relativeif they share the same key signature. Minor scales sound different from major scales because they are based on a. Each scale has a different use and application in jazz piano.