Piano for Beginners 6th ED - 2016 UK

Playing the piano

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5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5

01 The right hand

Place your thumb on the A key located six keys above middle C. Follow the

same fingering pattern used for C major, playing the notes A-B-C-D-E-F-G and A.

You will discover that this scale sounds very different to a major.

02 Left hand and hands together

After ascending and descending with your right hand, do the same with the

left. Start on the A key situated an octave lower down and follow the C major

fingering pattern with the A minor notes. Now try hands together!

The A natural minor scale

T

he most important type of scale to

learn next is the minor scale. Unlike the

major scale, the minor scale comes in

three different formats: the natural minor,

the harmonic minor and the melodic minor. This

means that for any given minor scale, there is not

one pattern to master, but three. Don’t worry if this

sounds daunting as the three different formats are

all centred on the same series of notes; they just

have slight variations which are useful to learn and

understand. With a little bit of practice you will soon

be adept at playing all three types of minor scale.

The A minor scale is the equivalent to the C major

scale because it has no sharps or flats. In musical

terms, this is referred to as the relative scale (eg A

is the relative minor to C, or C is the relative major

to A). Therefore, A minor is the obvious choice as

an introduction. You can find a major key’s relative

minor by counting three semitones lower (A is three

semitones lower than C).

As already noted, there are three different kinds

of minor scale. The natural minor is the foundation

scale, sharing the exact same set of notes as its

relative major (C), but starting and ending on A

rather than C (A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A). The harmonic minor

has only one alteration: the seventh note (in this

case, a G) is raised a semitone higher and is replaced

with G#. In the melodic minor, both the sixth and

the seventh note are raised but then lowered again

during the descent.

Introducing

minor scales

Time to tackle this new type of scale

Audio file

Listen to the audio files

and follow along on your

own keyboard

Give it a try