The three types of minor scales and how to form them. Return from minor scales to piano lessons info homepage. The mastering of all major and minor scales will benefit your piano skills in countless ways. The scale in all keys can be downloaded as a pdf file. There are two tetrachords in the major scale, each with the same order half and wholesteps wwh. All keys are shown, including the commonly used 12 keys of the circle of fifths diagram, and other theoretical ie. The pentatonic scale, major and minor free piano lessons.
Unlike major and minor scales, the pentatonic has no semitones. In fact, it is highly likely that many songs include passages and chords that relate to the melodic minor more than. This edition is reprinted by arrangement with schirmer books. Learning how to play all the scales will dramatically boost your overall piano playing. Music theory fundamentals 40 right hand fingerings above, left hand fingerings below. W h w w h w w a half step h is the distance between two adjacent keys on a piano keyboard, and. The thesaurus is arranged in the form of piano scales and melodic studies. If you would like to learn scales according to the order of difficulty, please refer to the graded syllabus.
On this page you will find the major scale diagrams charts in all 12 keys arranged by the circle of 5ths for piano. 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. For grades 1 to 5, students are given a choice of playing either harmonic or melodic minor scales. A minor scale is any scale derived from the major scale but with a. All 12 major scales share the same pattern of whole and half steps between the notes. Chapter 6 major scales and key signatures 119 the circle of 5ths the circle of 5 ths is simply the twelve different notes on the piano keyboard seven white keys and. When you play the minor pentatonic scale, you may notice that it sounds a bit bluesy. Download our free pdf versions of each scale with fingering. Learning how to play all the scales on the piano is a good way to improve your piano playing. Here are all the minor scales natural, harmonic and melodic for you to have a go at. Minor scales piano pdf 5 piano proficiency test requirements.
A scale is a series of notes pitches arranged from lowest to highest. Combe was debussys disciple and helped transcribe his new compositions as he played. Major, minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, pentatonic major, pentatonic minor, pentatonic blues, pentatonic read more. The right hand uses the second finger to hit the c sharp.
The minor pentatonic uses the 1st, minor 3rd, 4th, 5th and minor 7th notes of a major scale or 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th of the natural minor scale. How to form minor pentatonic scales on piano the minor pentatonic uses the 1st, minor 3rd, 4th, 5th and minor 7th notes of a major scale or 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th of the natural minor scale. Whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole and a half, half. Hanonle pianiste virtuosepart ii, scales and arpeggios 18. Nov 22, 2015 jazz piano lessons stepbystep lessons to master jazz theory. Learning these three scales in the key of a is a crucial step towards knowing how minor scales for piano work, but dont stop here. The includes the notes c sharp, d sharp, e, f sharp, g sharp, a, c, and back to c sharp. You a guide to building a solid and complete piano playing foundation. If you want to see a blueprint for a successful piano journey.
A diatonic scale is one particular scale which has a subset of 7 of the 12 notes, with the result being the major scale minor scales. The lesson could not be displayed because javascript is disabled. Go to the main piano scales page for major scales, pentatonic scales, scale modes and information about what makes up a scale. Then notate its relative minor scale and its scale degrees. All scales are made with a specific pattern of whole steps tones and half steps semitones. To my wife merry and our daughters eileen and suelynn the material of chapter one originated from my notes on how the late mlle. The natural major and natural minor scales are also called diatonic major scale and diatonic minor scale. Natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales.
This scale can sometimes confuse people because it is in a way identical to the major scale. We call scales relative if they share the same key signature. The natural minor scale has the following scale formula. Harmonic minor scale fingerings pdf best piano tips. I usually encourage students to choose harmonic minor as it is easier to learn and remember the fingering and notes you do not need to remember 2 different sets of. A harmonic minor a melodic minor d harmonic minor d. Melodic minor scales are a variation on harmonic minor scales on piano. Major scales keyboard fingerings cmajor c d e f g a b c rh 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5.
Minor scales for piano as you may already know, the same technology i used to make guitar scale charts was used to make them for piano too. Recorder musical instrument, guitar songs, easy piano sheet music, violin sheet music, amelie piano. C sharp minor harmonic scale on piano piano scale lessons. 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. Maybe you need to tune your guitar to a keyboard or just show the keyboardist of your band your musical ideas. Minor scales sound different from major scales because they are based on a.
How to play the d minor melodic scale piano scale lessons. Printable piano music scales in all major and harmonic minor keys. Major and natural minor scales for piano with fingerings. Each scale has a different use and application in jazz piano. Examples of heptatonic scales are the major scale and the minor scale. Label the scale degrees of the major pentatonic scales. The harmonic minor differs from the natural minor by the sharpened seventh note, and this minor scale is consequently not played in the same way as the relative major scale. Today im going to teach you the c sharp minor harmonic scale.
A diatonic scale is one particular scale which has a subset of 7 of the 12 notes, with the result being the major scale. By adding a few of these chord ideas into your playing, youll discover a whole new level of expression. I encourage you to continue exploring more sounds, scales and chords while developing as a musician. This type of scale has five notes per octave unlike a heptatonic scale which has seven notes. The other two are the natural minor and the melodic minor. Once you have watched the free video lesson, you can download the printable pdf sheet music to practice along with at your piano. A major scale is a scale that has half steps h between scale degrees 34 and 78 and whole steps between all other pairs of notes. Contrary to the major scale, there are not one but three minor scales, which all will be presented here. The sound of the harmonic scale is somewhat characterized by the music of the middle east. Playing scales on piano has the added benefit of encouraging visual memory.
A collection of scales for piano starting on the root c. Compare the picture of the circle of 5ths below with the face of a. 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. Natural, harmonic, and melodic forms margaret denton, piano minor scales. Only minor scales are melodic, and there is no such thing as a melodic major scale. Now lets take a look at the fingering of the scale. The harmonic minor differs from the natural minor by the sharpened seventh note, and this minor scale is consequently not played in the same.
The harmonic minor scale is one of three minor scales. If you need staff paper, you may print the staff paper12 pdf file. The minor scale uses the wh wwh ww pattern of intervals wholehalfwholewholehalfwholewhole you flat the 3rd note, the 6th note, and 7th note of the major scale and the wh wwh ww minor scale pattern is. All minor scales this page shows piano and treble clef diagrams of all minor scales, starting from note c. This page shows piano and treble clef diagrams of all minor scales, starting from note c. Maybe you need to tune your guitar to a keyboard or just show the keyboardist of. All minor scales all guitar scales tabs pdf all major scales piano pdf. Natural, harmonic and melodic forms about minor scales. Major and minor scales piano major minor piano music, learn. Printable number system charts of majorminor chords. Learn how to play the d minor melodic scale on the piano in this piano lesson.
Free major and minor scales for piano sheet music dion moults. Free pdf downloads of c major, c harmonic minor, and more. All melodic minor scales pdf major minor scales pdf. A free collection of printable piano scales with fingering.
Your knowledge of keyboard geography and confidence in the feel and shape of each scale will help in reading and memorizing music, as well as understanding the structure of the music you play. Piano scales and minor scales piano tips and free piano. 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. The scales here are not arranged by order of difficulty, but rather in a chronological order. 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. List of all natural minor scales piano music theory. Sep 29, 2018 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. Major pentatonic scale the major pentatonic scale shares five notes with the major scale. Minor scales create an incredible array of sounds and some players like to refer to these sounds as colors. 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. Minor scale chords the ultimate reference guide for all.
Minor scales are built on the 6th scale degree of a major scale. The most common scales when playing the piano, are major and minor scales. For those who want to learn or revise all the harmonic minor scales, all scale diagrams and videos are complied here. And the only way to do that is to have the patterns of each minor scales unique whole and halfstep signature memorized perfectly. A harmonic minor piano scales piano scales chart 8notes.
Starting from any key on the piano you can play a scale. Click here to learn more about this ebook if you would like a stepbystep guide to help you on your piano journey. Hide scales list c major c major pentatonic c minor pentatonic c dorian c phrygian c lydian c mixolydian c aeolian c locrian c blues c harmonic minor c melodic minor. Translating to sharp, when the note needs to be raised by one semitone. A scale is just some subset of the 12 notes in an octave. Every time we use the term diatonic or diatonic note, we are saying that this note is part of a natural major or minor scale.
Ideally, you should try playing the minor scales on a piano or keyboard to get used to the sound and feel of them. The includes the notes c sharp, d sharp, e, f sharp, g sharp, a, c, and back to c. The scale in all keys can be downloaded as a pdffile. Below are the minor scale charts for piano in all 12 keys ordered by the circle of 5ths. The harmonic minor scales in musical notes are available in the member area. Thus, sesquitone is 1 tones, or a minor third sesquiquadritone is 412 tones, or.
Chords and chordal structures will make much more sense to. The natural minor scale is often referred to simply as the minor scale. To my wife merry and our daughters eileen and suelynn. From each key on the piano you can start either a major or a minor scale. Make it your goal to be able to play minor scales in every key in music.
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