I am proud to help you learn the twelve major scales! What exactly is a scale? Well, think of one of your favorite songs-if you try to play it on the piano, there are some notes that sound horrible and don’t fit!…because they are not apart of that songs “key” or scale. There are certain notes that can flow together and others that are just out of place. You probably already know the C major scale. They are all of the white keys!

A major scale starts with the main note, in this case - C. Notice next comes D. In the middle of those two notes is a black key. You can call that C# (sharp) or Db (flat). Because there is a note in between C & D, C to D is a whole step. If you played C and then C#, that is only a half step. A half step is a note, in this case C, and then the very next note to the right whether it be white or black, C#. Another example of a half step is Eb (or D#) to E.

The picture on the left is just so that you remember what the keys are called. What about keys E to F. Is that a whole step or half step? The correct answer is a half step, because F is the very next note to the right of E. Half steps are not always between a white and black note. But the only other time it is between two white notes are B and C, because no black note is in between those notes either. So why are all of these half and whole steps important? They determine the 12 major scales. Remember the first C major scale. After the first initial note C, next comes D (WS<–whole step), then E (WS), F (HS<–half step), G (WS), A, (WS), B (WS) and finally the other C on the higher octave (HS). You can start a major scale on any of the twelve notes. Then Remember THIS: whole whole half, whole whole whole half. Then you can take any note and play it’s major scale. For our 2nd scale, we begin with C#. Now do the WWH, WWWH to remember what notes to play. The good news is that once you practice all 12 for just 5 minutes a day for the next week, after that it becomes very natural to you. You won’t have to think about whole and half steps. You can easily memorize these with just a bit of practice.

Remember you call the black keys either sharps or flats. So for C# (sharp), you can also call that Db (flat). To keep it easy for now, I will just say sharps. The first note on the scale is C#. A whole step is D# and another whole step is F; half step is F#. A whole step from F# is G#, whole step A#, whole step C, and half step back to C#. There it is, another major scale. One of my favorite songs, “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers plays in the key of C#. This means that I can play that song with these notes. I will not be using the notes: D, E, G, A, or B. One you begin to learn more and more songs at first, many will be in different keys than previous songs. Once you learn enough songs in these major keys, playing becomes easier because you get used to playing in one key. I probably play way too much in the key of B which you will see if you scroll down a bit. The song “When You Were Young” by The Killers plays in that key, and it just seems very natural to me. Ok Ok, next major scale or “key” you will learn is D.

Again at first practice saying whole whole half, whole whole whole half. Remember pretty soon it comes natural and you don’t need to say that. Now when you play this major scale you play all notes with one hand. First practice with your RH. Use your thumb, index, and middle finger to play the first 3 notes D, E, & F#. Then move your thumb below your middle finger when you play F# so your thumb then begins to play G next and the rest of your fingers follow. Your pinky will end on D. You can also practice playing the scale with your LH, and then playing both hands together, starting on different octaves. It is much harder to play it with your LH (at least for most people), and I do not really think it is very important to be able to do it with your LH. The RH is plenty if you ask me. Mainly, it helps you instantly know which keys are used in a song. Plus it helps you warm up a bit.

Above is the D# major scale. Again practice with your RH going up and down. As you learn more of the scales below, play some of the ones you learned above in between so you practice back and forth. Below is the E major scale.

Next, the F major scale. All keys are white except A# (or Bb).

Remember any note to the right can be noted as a sharp, so you can also say that the first note is E# (F). But most of the time you can just call the white notes what they are and not refer to them as a sharp or flat. Below is the F# key.

Next is the key of G. The only black key is F# (Gb).

Next is another one of my favorite keys to play in- G# (Ab).

Almost done, keep practicing with your RH! Key of A is below.

Major Scale of A# (Bb) next.

Finally, the last major scale to learn, probably my favorite to play in - B. The only white keys are E and B. For extra help, check out my post with a video of me playing the 12 major scales!