Learn Piano - How to Practice Scales?
Disclosure: This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Our blog is reader-supported, for more information click here.
En | Es
Learning to play piano is not an easy goal, the path you must follow varies a lot depending on what you want to learn on the piano, studying classical piano is not the same as jazz piano, neither it is when you learn on your own than when you learn in an academy or with private lessons, but there is something that is common to all piano students regardless of their process: The Scales.
What is a Scale?
It is important for you to know that there are many scales in the world of music and that these are essential to make your learning process faster and more fruitful. A scale is the consecutive way in which musical notes are ordered. In western music we only have 12 notes and how we organize them will result in a scale, however in this blog we focus on how to use these scales to improve our piano technique.
Once one of the teachers I had during my time in Russia said:
“Music is made of a mix between scales, arpeggios and chords, so whoever learns all of them will be halfway in the path of the piano learning journey”
Although this is not entirely true, it is not unreasonable either, the truth is that if you practice these elements constantly, little by little both your technique and your ability will improve, your fingers will get used to the fingering and they will make fewer mistakes and each time the pieces will be easier to interpret.
2. How to Practice on the Piano?
To learn a scale very well, you have to study it in different ways, starting with the conventional one where both hands play with an interval of an octave ascending and descending. Scales are professionally performed over a 4-octave range.
Preferably without a pause, after the conventional way comes the open one, which in some places is called the contrary way or the Russian way. This type of scale consists of playing with an octave interval up to the middle of the professional range, that is, two octaves; then the right hand continues to ascend until completing the range of 4 octaves but the left hand descends to the starting point generating a movement in opposite directions of the hands. After the left hand is on the lowest note and the right hand is on the highest note, both hands continue to play until they meet again in the center and then ascend together. In the following image you can see the complete exercise using the C major scale as an example.
With the following ways of practicing the scales you will achieve better coordination between both hands as well as improve precision when playing in the conventional way. The first type consists of a 3rd interval between the two hands, if the scale is a major scale, then you start with a major 3rd, but if the scale is minor, then the first interval would be a minor 3rd, this also applies to both following ways. Playing the scale with an interval of 10th is much more comfortable than that with the one with 3rd although its fingering is the same, this second form is very pleasant to play and listen to. The third and last way to play a scale is with an interval of 6th, in the following image you will see the three possibilities of playing the scale that I have just described.
Students usually hesitate when deciding the fingering for these ways of playing the scales on the piano, but the reality is that there are no changes at all. Although we have 5 fingers, when playing scales we use more than anything fingers 1 - 2 - 3 and 4, each of these fingers always corresponds only to a couple of notes of the scale, so don't get complicated when it comes of choosing the fingering, as no matter what note you start on, the fingering should not change.
3. Chords and Arpeggios on the Piano?
From the scales arise the chords and from these come the arpeggios, being related we can practice them to achieve a better understanding of the scales. Chords are a group of notes played at the same time with a specific function; if we play these chords note by note, then they are called arpeggios.
How to play chords on the piano? There are many types of chords but generally the first ones that are studied are those that are made up of 3 musical notes, but this does not mean that the order of these three musical notes cannot be changed. If the chord begins on its first note, we call it fundamental, but if the chord begins on the second or third note, then it is called first inversion and second inversion, respectively. In the following image you will see how the chords should be interpreted when learning a scale, although we talk about three notes in the sheet music you will see 4, this is because the little or pinky finger (finger 5) plays an octave higher of the thumb finger (finger 1) but this just adds a color of grandeur to the exercise as well as improving the elasticity of the hands.
With chords there are many possibilities to generate exercises that can enhance the results of your practice sessions, here are two that my students enjoy playing the most. I invite you to explore and find other patterns for yourself for chord practice.
How to practice arpeggios on the piano? There are two types of arpeggios: one is closed and one is open. In the first type we rely strictly on the architecture of the chord and play each of its notes consecutively changing the inversion, it looks like this.
The second type consists of playing all the notes of the chord consecutively but in the range of 4 octaves, the same 4 octaves of the scales that we talked about at the beginning of this blog. As I told you before, the chords that are studied from the beginning are the ones composed of 3 notes, this means that the open arpeggios can start from each of those three notes like this.
In this video that I share with you, you can see and hear how the Ab major scale sounds with all the characteristics that I described above. As for the speed at which you should play, the important thing is to be clear that the scales, chords and arpeggios should sound as fluid as possible, even if you play very slowly.
4. Which Scales to Practice?
In a practice session, the study of the scales is usually at the beginning, this prepares our hands and activates our fingers for the practice of the repertoire. The decision of which scales to practice depends on the type of practice session you plan to have and the time you intend to dedicate to it, for example, between 40 minutes and 1 hour you will be able to study all the major scales, but if you do not have a lot of practice or study time what you can do is choose a couple of scales only.
During the practice session, in general, you can dedicate time to one or two pieces of your repertoire, the ideal is that the scales not only prepare you technically and physically but also bring you closer to the repertoire that you want to practice, for this what I recommend is that the scale is in the same key as the repertoire you plan to practice, that is, if one of the pieces is in the key of F minor and another in B major, the ideal is that you study the scale, chords and arpeggios of those two keys.
In the event that all the pieces in your practice session are in the same key or you plan to practice a single piece, what you can do is play the scale of the key and its related scales, so if the piece is in the key of C major you can also practice the 5th degree scale as well, which in this case would be G major, or the 6th degree scale, which would be A minor.
5. The Problems with Playing Scales.
Despite all the benefits that the practice of the scales has, it also has some difficulties, the first and perhaps the most common among students is the monotony and repetition, the second is the synchronization between both hands. The good news is that both problems can be corrected and avoided with simple and fun exercises.
The use of articulations is the first way to deal with these two difficulties, legato, staccatos and accents allow the notes to be grouped in different ways, generating small phrases. In this first example you can see and hear the C major scale played with a 6th interval with two ways of grouping the scale.
Grouping the notes and dividing them with accents is a very fun way to play the scales, it is challenging especially when it is done at the same time with a metronome, you can hear in this example how the metronome sounds while we make a group of 7 notes with the C major scale.
Another way to correct these small problems is by combining the articulations with changes in rhythm, these types of exercises help a lot with the synchronization between both hands. In this example we will use the C major scale in an interval of octaves in the opposite direction to practice it with a swing rhythm, this is useful for students learning Jazz on the Piano, but it does not necessarily have to be this way. In the audio you will hear how it would sound with a swing rhythm but in the image you can see how it would be played for classical piano students.
6. Scales to Another Level.
Everything that I exposed in this blog is part of the traditional way of practicing scales in major and minor keys, however there are many more scales in the world of music, there are the modes, the blues scales, the Arabic scales and many more, not all pianists study and learn all the scales, generally their study is linked to the type of music that is played, jazz pianists study a lot of modes and blues, while classical pianists focus on major and minor tonalities.
The important thing is that you have an idea of all the ways there are to practice and learn the scales, definitely studying them is essential to make your piano learning process much more fruitful and effective. If you have questions or are interested in learning more about how to practice you can contact me without any problem, I will gladly answer your questions, but if what you are looking for is to learn the piano in a more guided way, then do not hesitate to contact me to take online piano lessons. Share this blog if you think it may be useful to someone you know.
Subscribe to the newsletter
More Literature
