Major Scale Fingerings & Technique
Welcome to this lesson on major scale fingerings and technique. In the last lesson we explored the 12 major scales and how they relate to the circle of fifths.
In this lesson we are going to talk about major scale fingerings and proper technique when playing scales on the piano.
Major Scale Fingering Patterns
You will be glad to hear that many of the major scales follow the exact same fingering, or very similar fingering. We are going to demonstrate all of these scales over 2 octaves and we will also discuss the proper technique.
Right Hand Fingering For Major Scales
We will begin with the right hand fingering for the keys which start on white notes. There are 7 keys which start on white notes, we have the keys of C, D, E, F, G, A, & B. All of these keys except the key of F follow the exact same right hand fingering.
Black Key Fingerings For Major Scales
The white keys cover 7 of the 12 notes in octave and the black notes cover 5 of the notes in the octave. So we just have the fingering for 5 black note keys to remember.
The right hand fingering for the scales starting on black keys is not as consistent as for the white keys, but there are some important points to remember which will speed up the memorisation process.
Left Hand Fingering For Major Scales
The left hand fingering for major scales follows a similar relationship to the right hand fingering in that all of the scales starting on white notes follow the same left hand fingering, except the key of B Major.
Notice that the cross over is reversed in relation to the right hand fingering, on the way up the scales in the left hand, the finger goes over the top, and on the way down the thumb tucks underneath.
Left Hand Fingering For Major Black Keys
You will be happy to hear that we finish with a nice simple relationship to remember. All scales that start on black keys follow the same left hand fingering except the key of Gb.
Lesson Downloads
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Major Scale Fingerings PDF File Type: pdf
Related Lessons
Using the tune “Georgia” – we will also explore the concept of the major blues scale and how to apply this to major 251 progressions.
With your knowledge of chord tone soloing, the blues scale is now just another dimension that you can add to your solo, instead of the whole solo!
We will explore the pentatonic scale from a jazz improvisation standpoint applying the scale to different chord types and common progressions.
Practice Tips
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When tucking the thumb under on the way up, and when moving fingers over on the way down, this must happen smoothly with flopping, drooping, or twisting of the wrist.
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The wrist must stay balanced and move smoothly from left to right. Here is an example of bad technique and then good technique.
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Our fingers should be curved and not straight and form a slight 'cupped' position in the hand.
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First practice these very slowly and focus on the proper technique as described earlier.
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With practice you will be able to visualise these scales but use the PDFs if necessary to speed up your memorisation of the scales and fingerings.
Hey Hayden.
I’ve found a lovely arrangement I wanted to share with you of ‘what a wonderful world’
https://music.apple.com/gb/album/what-a-wonderful-world/1570705093?i=1570706049
Look forward to a tutorial of this with you.
Hey Hayden, in reviewing this lesson I noticed the 21:22 chapter title is “LF Fingering White Keys” when I believe it should say “LH Fingering Black Keys”. Cheers, and thanks as always for everything. I feel like I could use Piano Groove for years and still have years of content to learn. I love it. Best, Ashton
Hi there. Is there a pdf for minor scale fingerings too?
Having spent several years playing jazz standards by ear I have to say this fingering discipline is really helpful. The one thing I’d say is that, cognitively, it’s difficult to separate finger numbers from scale numbers. What I struggle with is when Im moving down a scale and want to stay aware of both the proper fingering AND the number of the scale I’m playing 🙂