piano lessons: HOW TO FORM MAJOR SCALES ON PIANO

For simplicity, we will learn this concept in the key of C because the key of C does not have sharps or flats, i.e. does not have the black notes that you see in the picture.

Remember at school when you were still young and you sung: do re mi fa so la ti do, this is a major scale. The major scale of C is

C D E F G A B C – do re mi fa so la ti do. This is a major scale.

As I said before, I am going to give minimum theory and more application. I will present this principle in the simplest way I know how.

Let us analyze this scale of C, what is the formula to forming it?

Whole and Half-steps

First you should notice that the notes on the piano are separated in terms of steps: half steps and whole steps, for example:

When you go from C to C# you take half a step

When you go from C# to D you take half a step

But, when you go from C to D, you take a whole step

Note that between C# and D there is no note and also between C and C# there is no note but between C and D there is a note, which is C#.

That is: ½step + ½ step = whole step

This is the most difficult part for most of my students, but it actually isn’t if you look and think about more than once!

I am going to spend a lot more time on this concept because it is so important!

MAJOR SCALE EXAMPLES

Let us do a few examples, we will use the scale of C which has the following scale,

C–D– E – F–G–A - B

1 - 2 - 3 – 4 - 5 - 6 - 7

PIANO MAJOR SCALE FORMATION RULE

C and D are whole steps apart (which is 2 half-steps)

D and E are whole steps apart (which is 2 half-steps)

E and F are half-step apart (3 and 4)

F and G are whole steps apart (which is 2 half-steps)

G and A are whole steps apart (which is 2 half-steps)

B and C are half-step apart (7 and 8 or 1)

You can see from the above that when you go from E to F and from B to C you don’t jump any notes, you go STRAIGHT to the next note.

But, between C and D, D and E, G and A, A and B you will jump a note, for example: there is a note that you have to jump when you go from C to D, BUT you don’t skip any note between E and F!

Knowing this rule is key to knowing the rest of the scales on the piano. So, how do we form a major scale, say, in the key of Eb?

First we put down the numbers, also known as SCALE DEGREES:

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8

Next we find the notes for this key:

Since we want the scale of Eb, Eb will therefore will be our ‘1’.

Our rule says 1 and 2(1 being Eb and 2 being F) are a whole step apart, therefore we will skip the E and go to F.

I can’t go to the E because our rule says that they have to be a whole step apart, so I have to skip the note E and go straight to F.

Now I am on F which is the second scale degree. What is the next scale degree?

Well, I have to jump the F# and go straight to G according to our rule.

Now I am on the 3^rd scale degree, I see red because I will not jump any note, which means I just move on straight to Ab, that’s according to our rule. See red each time you are on the 3^rd or 7^th scale degree because when you are on these notes, when moving to the next note, you don’t jump you just move on.