Piano Guidance
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In what order should I learn piano scales?

In general, it's a good idea to start with the major scales first, then move on to the natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales. Once you master those you can move onto things like chromatic scales, ​blues scales, pentatonic scales and whole tone scales.

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As a novice to the piano, you might be wondering, “What piano scales should I learn first?” There’s so much to remember when you are first learning how to play the piano. You want to make sure you learn the basics correctly the first time, so that you don’t have to unlearn bad habits later. When it comes to learning how to play the piano, learning things right the first time is much easier than trying to unlearn poor practices and relearn best practices in the future. Scales are often a piano student’s first step in learning how to play to the piano. While practicing scales can seem to be a tedious, routine exercise, scales provide the fundamentals for understanding music and mastering piano techniques.

But how do you know where to begin?

In general, it's a good idea to start with the major scales first, then move on to the natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor scales. Once you master those you can move onto things like chromatic scales, ​blues scales, pentatonic scales and whole tone scales.

What Is A Scale?

You might be asking, “What exactly is a scale and why is it important to learn?” A scale is a set of musical notes ordered by pitch or frequency. Scales make up the backbone of most musical pieces, with a single scale providing the melody and harmony. Scales typically span an octave, which is eight keys, say, for example, from C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. That’s an octave. (There are other types of scales, which we won’t get into now for simplicity’s sake). There are 12 major scales and at least 36 minor scales, including harmonic minors, melodic minors and natural minors. Major scales are basic to your understanding of musical keys and are the scales that most piano students learn first. Most everyone agrees that the scale that should be learned and mastered first is the C Major Scale.

First, Learn The C Major Scale With The Right Hand

The C Major Scale is the scale that most who have studied the piano traditionally learn first. It might be called the easiest scale, as it contains no sharps or flats (it consists of all white, otherwise known as natural, keys). Starting with Middle C on the piano’s keyboard, a scale is eight notes, otherwise known as an octave. It ends on the next C note.

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