Piano Scales - A Complete Guide To Scales For The Beginners

Virtually nobody looks forward to learning scales on the piano. But mastering scales gives you the freedom to improvise, to write your own music, and to really understand how your favorite pieces of music work. Let’s get familiar with some of the most important piano scales (and why you should learn them).

What is a Scale?

Simply put, a scale is a collection of notes arranged in ascending (or descending) order of pitch.

Depending on the type of scale you’re playing, the relationship between the notes will be different. That’s because the intervals, or patterns of whole steps and half steps, between the notes, will vary with the type of scale.

The length of scales also varies. Many of the most commonly used scales are heptatonic, meaning they have seven notes. But you can also play shorter pentatonic scales and longer chromatic scales.

As you practice piano scales, you’ll find that each collection of notes seems to have its own mood. Major scales tend to sound upbeat or happy. Minor scales sound more melancholy. But even different keys seem to have their own signature sounds. Much like people, each scale has its own personality.

What is a Diatonic Scale?

A diatonic scale, also called a heptatonic scale, is a seven-note scale. The notes in a diatonic scale are separated by five whole-step intervals and two half-step intervals. The half-step intervals are separated by two or three whole steps.

The two most famous diatonic scales are the major scale (Ionian mode) and the natural minor scale (Aeolian mode). The notes in a major scale are separated by the intervals W-W-H-W-W-W-H (where W stands for a whole step and H stands for a half step). The notes in a natural minor scale are separated by the intervals W-H-W-W-H-W-W-W. As you can see, in each one, each half step is separated by at least two whole steps. For a visual explanation of diatonic scales, check out this quick video lesson!

Why You Should Learn Scales

If you’ve just started learning piano, it might be tempting to learn to read notes on the staff, play chords, start playing pieces, and skip practicing scales altogether. But learning scales will improve your playing, both in terms of technique and understanding the music you play. It’s a fundamental part of playing piano or keyboard, and it’s included in piano lessons everywhere.

When you practice scales, you can achieve finger dexterity, hand coordination, and speed. All of these are critical skills if you want to play piano well!

Learning scales enables you to play notes and chords within a given key. That means you’ll be able to easily add embellishments to existing pieces of music and improvise along with any given song.

Applications of Scales

The best thing about learning scales is being able to apply them to other aspects of music. Here are some of the ways you can apply scales to your musical journey:

Creating chord progressions. Each note of a scale has a corresponding chord. When you understand the chords within a key, writing songs becomes much easier. You can use common chord progressions or create a unique arrangement of chords.
Building melodies. Knowing scales, you’ll also understand what notes you can include in a given melody. Of course, arranging the notes on the keyboard (and over the chords) in a compelling way is the most important part!
Creating moods with music. As you start playing scales, you’ll get a feel for the unique mood of each key. When you’re writing music or improvising, you’ll be able to select the right key for the mood you want to create!
Improvising solos. Solos aren’t just for guitars. When you know your scales, you’ll be able to improvise a melody over any chords as long as you know the key.

Different Scales

Here are some main scales to practice as you learn to play piano.

The Major Scale

Most beginning pianists start off by learning the C major scale. This one is probably considered the easiest scale, as it contains no sharps or flats. That means it’s played exclusively on white keys. If you’ve ever taken piano lessons, this is probably the first scale you learned.

The major scale, in general, is quite popular in Western music, so it’s an important one to learn! Music in major keys has an upbeat and optimistic tone. That’s why so much of popular music is played in a major key.

There are 12 major scales in all. Here’s the order most students learn them in (along with the notes of each):

C Major – C-D-E-F-G-A-B
G Major – G-A-B-C-D-E-F#
D Major – D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#
A Major – A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#
E Major – E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#
B Major – B-C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A#-B
F Major – F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E
F#/Gb Major – F#-G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E#
C#/Db Major – C#-D#-E#-F#-G#-A#-B#
A#/Bb Major – A#-C-D-D#-F-G-A
D#/Eb Major – D#-E#-F##-G#-A#-B#-C##
G#/Ab Major – G#-A#-B#-C#-D#-E#-F##

You can also figure out any major scale using the simple formula whole step-whole step-half step-whole step-whole step-whole step-half step (W-W-H-W-W-W-H). Just start with the scale’s root note and apply the pattern. This helpful YouTube video takes a closer look at the major scale formula.

Most students start out by practicing scales one octave at a time and one hand at a time. Make sure that you can play one octave ascending and descending (maintaining the same pattern of fingering both times). From there, you can play more than one octave. And when you’re ready, try putting the left hand and the right hand together on the piano, so you’re playing the same major scale with each one.

The Minor Scale

There are a few minor scales on the piano, but the phrase “minor scale” alone usually refers to the natural minor scale. As you practice the natural minor scales, it’s critical to master the fingering for each one.

Here are the notes of 12 natural minor scales:

C Minor – C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb
G Minor – G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F
D Minor – D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C
A Minor – A-B-C-D-E-F-G
E Minor – E-F#-G-A-B-C-D
B Minor – B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A
F Minor – F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F
F#/Gb Minor – F#-G#-A-B-C#-D-E
C#/Db Minor – C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A-B
A#/Bb Minor – A#-B#-C#-D#-E#-F#-G#
D#/Eb Minor – D#-E#-F#-G#-A#-B-C#
G#/Ab Minor – G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E-F#

As you learn each of the natural minor scales, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the concept of relative majors and minors. Each major scale has a relative minor scale. Both scales contain the same notes but in a different order. For example, the C major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B, and the A natural minor scale is A-B-C-D-E-F-G. Since they share the same notes, the C major scale and the A natural minor scale are relative scales.

Just like the major scale, you can also figure out the notes of any natural minor scales using a formula. That formula for natural minor scales is whole step-half step-whole step-whole step-half step-whole step-whole step (W-H-W-W-H-W-W). When you know the minor scale pattern of whole steps and half steps, you don’t have to worry about memorizing each individual minor scale.

The Major Pentatonic Scale

The major pentatonic scale (not to be confused with the major scale) isn’t usually the first one piano students learn, but it’s a great idea to practice and master it. This five-note scale is quite common in Western music, especially in pop, rock, and jazz. Once you know it, you’ll have a much easier time improvising over various songs. The major pentatonic scale is great for improvising over a major key.

Here are the notes of all 12 major pentatonic scales:

C – C-D-E-G-A
G – G-A-B-D-E
D – D-E-F#-A-B
A – A-B-C#-E-F#
E – E-F#-G#-B-C#
B – B-C#-D#-F#-G#
F – F-G-A-C-D
F#/Gb – F#-G#-A#-C#-D#
C#/Db – C#-D#-F-G#-A#
A#/Bb – A#-C-D-F-G
D#/Eb – D#-F-G-A#-C
G#/Ab – G#-A#-C-D#-F

You can also figure out a pentatonic scale if you know the relevant major scale. A major pentatonic scale is just a major scale without the fourth and seventh degrees. For example, the C major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B. After taking out the fourth and seventh degrees, we have C-D-E-G-A or the C major pentatonic scale.

The Minor Pentatonic Scale

The minor pentatonic scale sounds a good bit different from the major pentatonic scale. It even sounds a little bluesy. That’s because it’s effectively the blues scale with one note (the “blue” note) missing. Like its major counterpart, the minor pentatonic scale is great for improvising on the piano! You can also use the minor pentatonic scale over its relative major key. For example, since A minor is the relative minor of C major, you can use the A minor pentatonic scale over a piece in C major.

Here are the 12 minor pentatonic scales with the notes of each:

C – C-Eb-F-G-Bb
G – G-Bb-C-D-F
D – D-F-G-A-C
A – A-C-D-E-G
E – E-G-A-B-D
B – B-D-E-F#-A
F – F-Ab-Bb-C-Eb
F#/G# – F#-A-B-C#-E
C#/Db – C#-E-F#-G#-B
A#/Bb – A#-C#-D#-F-G#
D#/Eb – D#-F#-G#-A#-C#
G#/Ab – G#-B-C#-D#-F#

You can derive the notes of the minor pentatonic scale from the major scale: just include the first, minor third, fourth, fifth, and minor seventh notes of the major scale. When you make a degree “minor,” you lower it by a half step. If we take the C major scale (C-D-E-F-G-A-B) and do this, we get C-Eb-F-G-Bb or the C minor pentatonic scale.

You can also figure out the minor pentatonic scale from the natural minor scale. Just remove the second and sixth degrees of a natural minor scale. The C natural minor scale is C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb. So we remove D and Ab and get the C minor pentatonic scale C-Eb-F-G-Bb again.

The Melodic Minor Scale

The melodic minor scale is a little trickier than the natural minor scale. That’s because this minor scale uses different notes ascending and descending. On the way up, start with the root note and follow the pattern W-H-W-W-W-W-H. On the way down, use the pattern W-W-H-W-W-H-W. Another way to look at it is that in the melodic minor scale, the sixth and seventh degrees are lowered by a half step on the way down.

Here are the 12 melodic minor scales and their notes (ascending/descending):

C – C-D-Eb-F-G-A-B/B-A-G-F-Eb-D-C
G – G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F#/F#-E-D-C-Bb-A-G
D – D-E-F-G-A-B-C#/C#-B-A-G-F-E-D
A – A-B-C-D-E-F#-G#/G#-F#-E-D-C-B-A
E – E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D#/D#-C#-B-A-G-F#-E
B – B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A#/A#-G#-F#-E-D-C#-B
F – F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-E/E-D-C-Bb-Ab-G-F
F#/G# – F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E#/E#-D#-C#-B-A-G#-F#
C#/Db – C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A#-B#/B#-A#-G#-F#-E-D#-C#
A#/Bb – A#-B#-C#-D#-E#-F##-G##/G##-F##-E#-D#-C#-B#-A#
D#/Eb – D#-E#-F#-G#-A#-B#-C##/C##-B#-A#-G#-F#-E#-D#
G#/Ab – G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E#-F##/F##-E#-D#-C#-B-A#-G#

The Harmonic Minor Scale

The harmonic minor scale is pretty similar to the natural minor scale. The only difference is that you raise the seventh note by a half step. For example, the C natural minor scale is C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb. When we raise the last note of the natural minor scale by a half step, we get C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B. And as you can see below, that’s the C harmonic minor scale!

Here are the 12 harmonic minor scales and their notes:

C – C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B
G – G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F#
D – D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C#
A – A-B-C-D-E-F-G#
E – E-F#-G-A-B-C-D#
B – B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A#
F – F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-E
F#/G# – F#-G#-A-B-C#-D-E#
C#/Db – C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A-B#
A#/Bb – A#-B#-C#-D#-E#-F#-G##
D#/Eb – D#-E#-F#-G#-A#-B-C##
G#/Ab – G#-A#-B-C#-D#-E-F##

Even though the harmonic minor scale doesn’t seem that different from the natural minor scale, changing one note dramatically alters its mood. Some people characterize harmonic minor scales as sounding vaguely Middle Eastern. Others say that raising the seventh note creates tension that leaves audiences waiting for a resolution (in the form of the tonic or root note). Practice the harmonic minor scale yourself and see what you think!

The Blues Scale

The blues scale is obviously important for blues piano players, but it’s also useful for adding some flavor to various genres. You can figure out the blues scale from the minor pentatonic scale. Just add a flat fifth (of the major scale) before the fifth in the blues scale.

A simpler way to look at that is to take the fourth note in the minor pentatonic scale. Add a flattened version of that note right in front of it. For example, the C minor pentatonic scale is C-Eb-F-G-Bb. So we take G and put Gb in front of it. That gives us C-Eb-F-Gb-G-Bb or the C-blues scale, as shown below.

Here are the 12 blues scales, along with the notes of each:

C – C-Eb-F-Gb-G-Bb
G – G-Bb-C-Db-D-F
D – D-F-G-Ab-A-C
A – A-C-D-Eb-E-G
E – E-G-A-Bb-B-D
B – B-D-E-F-F#-A
F – F-Ab-Bb-B-C-Eb
F#/G# – F#-A-B-C-C#-E
C#/Db – C#-E-F#-G-G#-B
A#/Bb – A#-C#-D#-E-F-G#
D#/Eb – D#-F#-G#-A-A#-C#
G#/Ab – G#-B-C#-D-D#-F#

Final Thoughts

Learning piano scales can be daunting, especially for a new pianist. But as you start to understand the relationships the scales have with one another, you’ll have an easier time learning and playing them. Just focus on the major scale first, work your way gradually through, and your knowledge of major and minor scales will soon become second nature.

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