A collection of scales for piano starting on the root c. Tip 4 for piano scales, start with e major chopin used to teach his students this, as the hand naturally forms the correct shape in order to play c major and others properly. Practicing scales and arpeggios for pianists is similar to the knife skills for cooks. How to play and practice scales and arpeggios for pianists.
Like major scales, minor scales have eight notes, with the top and bottom tonic notes. Major and minor pentatonic scales avoid significant harmonic. Why do major and minor scales sound the way they do. Barbara murphy university of tennessee school of music major and minor scales half and whole steps. Minor scales have a different pattern than major, but all minor scale. The order of notes is different, but both keys have the same overall group of notes. Minor scales sound different from major scales because they are based on a. The scale in all keys can be downloaded as a pdffile. However, we have 3 different types of minor scales when working in minor keys. Major, minor and chromatic scales zeckwer, richard. Download free piano sheet music for major, minor harmonic, and minor melodic scales for all keys. Playing scales on piano has the added benefit of encouraging visual memory. Major and minor relationships every major key signature shares the same set of notes as its relative minor key signature. The difference between these two scales is the pattern of.
In classical music, you play the true melodic minor scale ascending and the natural minor scale descending. The circle of fifths is a very useful diagram which shows us what keys are most closely related to each other. All scales are made with a specific pattern of whole steps tones and half steps semitones. Every scale is explaned with its fingering, with the standar finghers numbering for right and left hand.
The best way to practice all major scales is by using the circle of fifths. Major and minor scales piano major minor piano music, learn. Each scale is provided as a separate pdf download with finger numbers above each note. Printable piano music scales in all major and harmonic minor keys. We provide downloads for common scales including major, the three minor scales natural, harmonic, and melodic, the blues scale, and others. Piano major scales fingerings sheet music for piano.
Natural, harmonic, and melodic forms margaret denton, piano minor scales. The minor scale uses the wh wwh ww pattern of intervals. This type of scale has five notes per octave unlike a heptatonic scale which has seven notes. 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. The minor scale is the scale which sounds negative it is used by composers to depict sad, melancholic or even angrydramatic moods. Another way of finding the minor scale is to play the major triad and drop the 3 rd by half a step. The relative minor scale is built upon the sixth tone of the major scale. Nov 18, 2008 at the piano db major is actually far easier to play than c major. Music theory fundamentals 40 right hand fingerings above, left hand fingerings below. 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.
For example, the notes within the key of f major are the same set of notes found within the key of d minor see figure 1. Major and minor scales are variations of the diatonic scale, which is a musical scale built with intervals of 5 whole steps and 2 half steps. Bellingham music teachers association scale and arpeggio fingering chart for piano major and minor scales and arpeggios two octaves chromatic scale. Public domain the scales are broken down into 6 groups. The idea behind doing this was basically that i couldnt find any chord diagrams that werent either being charged for or. Minor scales cheat sheet harmonic minor raise the 7th scale degree melodic minor raise the 6th and 7th scale degree ascending, revert to natural minor descending. We will begin with the relationships between major scales and natural minor scales, major pentatonic scales and minor pentatonic scales, and major blues scales and minor blues scales. Free major and minor scales for piano sheet music dion moult. Essential music theory guides with free printables.
T his guitar scales fretboard chart generator will show you all the major and minor guitar scales and modes with tons of customizable tunings. Scroll down the page for the free pdf download links. From each key on the piano you can start either a major or a minor scale. You need to understand something right away to be a piano or keyboard player.
Major and minor scales contain seven notes or scale degrees. All minor scales this page shows piano and treble clef diagrams of all minor scales, starting from note c. This scale can sometimes confuse people because it is in a way identical to the major scale. Major and minor harmonic and melodic scales, 4 octaves, hands together, correct fingerings. Select landscape mode to get best results printing it out.
At the piano db major is actually far easier to play than c major. This page shows piano and treble clef diagrams of all minor scales, starting from note c. Its all in the intervals, and this chart shows you how. But there are several different types of chords, depending on the different intervals between the notes. Translating to sharp, when the note needs to be raised by one semitone. Print and learn piano music scales with fingering in all major and minor keys. A natural minor d natural minor 36 minor scales unlike the major scale, there are 3 types of minor scale. Download our free pdf versions of each scale with fingering. Examples of heptatonic scales are the major scale and the minor scale.
We will begin our study with the simplest and most common type of piano chords, the triad. If you dont want notes, here are picture scales with all the major scales plus fingering for each hand. Every scale determines a key,that is an harmonic combunation of tones based on that scale. The notes within each major scale type are the same group of notes as the relative minor scale type. A scale is a stepwise arrangement of notespitches contained within an octave. Piano major scales fingerings for people that start to study piano and need a complete guide to scales. For instance, the sixth tone in the c major scale is a, therefore the relative minor of c is a minor. In this piano tutorial, we look at an easy method to build major and minor chords. B major and b minor are awkward arpeggios, no matter which fingering is used.
Play a c major scale on your piano, and follow it with a c minor scale. Basic music theory for adult beginner level piano players. Natural minor scale a scale that contains halfsteps between 23 and 56 scale degrees the natural form. These scales are optimised for piano, with two staves, one for the left hand and one for the right. 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. The a minor scale include exactly the same notes as the c major scale which makes them relative keys read. Doing this allows us to count the notes between each note. Contrary to the major scale, there are not one but three minor scales, which all will be presented here. When we are dealing strictly with major scales we really only have one scale to draw our notes and melodies from. Scores featuring the piano for 1 player content is available under the creative commons attributionsharealike 4. This table emphasizes the point that each mode can be determined by starting on a successive note of the c major scale white keys only. Building piano scales major, minor, etc in all keys. Scales include all keys, beginning at c major, followed by g major, d major, etc until f sharp major, then switches over to d flat major, and descends in flats until f major.
The word pentatonic comes from the greek word pente which. Among all the scales and arpeggios, major and minor ones are a good place to start. Each scale has a different use and application in jazz piano. The three types of minor scales and how to form them. Unlike major and minor scales, the pentatonic has no semitones. Jan 17, 2017 the best way to practice all major scales is by using the circle of fifths.
All 12 major scales share the same pattern of whole and half steps between the notes. The main scales of western music are major and minor 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. The specific notes that are close together is what makes the major scale pattern. You can make a major and a minor scale starting with any note on the piano. These make great handouts for piano teachers to use with students. Major and natural minor scales for piano with fingerings. Minor scales are no less important or smaller in size than major scales. Natural, harmonic and melodic forms about minor scales. All minor scales illustrated with pictures including notes and fingerings. You know the notes that comprise all 12 major scales and you can play these scales smoothly and not quickly. Minor scales are built on the 6th scale 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. Major scales and key signatures s o, now you can use the letters a through g to name notes on the treble and bass staff and accidentals to create major and minor seconds, aka, whole and half steps if you cant do this yet, stop here, go back to the previous chapters, and practice until you can.
She heard him drop a gear, heard the engine scream in protest and watched the narrowbodied, lithe to. All melodic minor scales pdf major minor scales pdf. For scale help, view the c minor scale highlighted on the piano keyboard, or read the notation. Melodic minor modes and altered scale the jazz piano site. However, there are in fact 3 minor scales which you will come across and can use. The minor third is down a fifth three times and up and octave twice.
The pentatonics are fun 5 note scales that are essential to blues and country music. 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. Major and minor scales fingering chart raga sangeet. All minor scales all guitar scales tabs pdf all major scales piano pdf. If you hear someone mention that a piano sonata by the composer and pianist franz schubert is played in a major, it means that it depends on the a scale. We call scales relative if they share the same key signature.
Major, minor, diminished, and augmented chords as you probably know, a chord is a group of notes played simultaneously, rather than sequentially like a melody. The natural minor scale is often referred to simply as the minor scale. This selection and arrangement of content as a collection is. 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. Every major scale has a relative natural minor scale and every minor scale has a relative major scale the major scale and its relative minor scale share the same key signature. Printable piano music scales for beginners online piano coach. In piano scales, two main scales are the major and minor scales.
Print and download in pdf or midi piano major scales fingerings. Understanding minor scales in this brief tutorial we are going to try to demystify minor scales. Dive into the anatomy of major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads with this guide. This is easier to do looking at a violin, or a piano. Free pdf downloads of c major, c harmonic minor, and more. Melodic minor scales jyttes piano sheet collection.
But in jazz, we play the true melodic minor scale both up and down, and call it the jazz melodic minor scale. The associated chord is the cmmaj7 chord which is not found in major scale harmony. Minor scales are built on the 6th scale degree of a major scale. Jan 04, 2018 in this piano tutorial, we look at an easy method to build major and minor chords. Intervallic patterns in a pentatonic scale scales have a set intervallic pattern or in most cases steps, which begin on the scale s root. My interactive pentatonic scales chart for piano shows fingering diagrams for both pentatonic major and pentatonic minor scales. All keys are shown, including the commonly used 12 keys of the circle of fifths diagram, and other theoretical ie. 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 scale degrees in ionian and the 2 nd and b6 scale degrees in aeolian. You can learn how to form other melodic and harmonic minor scales at our main piano music scales section. Just select your string tuning standard tuning is default, click the link that says go then click a key link. Musical scales major minor blues pentatonic chromatic and whole tone scales. All the scales here are in one octave, but you can of course practice each piano scale in as many octaves and in any tempo you like. Playing any scales and arpeggios with the proper technique ensures easy and fluid movement without physical discomfort. In a major scale the 3rd, and 4th note are close together mifa, as well as the 7th, and 8th note tido.