I remember I was asked to play C major scale and arpeggio for a piano exam at Berklee and I had some inaccuracies. One of the teachers said to me, "You thought this would be the easiest scale you didn't have to practice, did you?" I was like screw you, that was genuinely the one I practiced the most. It was like 9 years ago, I can still remember what the color of his shirt was and which room it was in.
I discovered this about a year into self-teaching the piano. I did a lot of my learning by ear, and inadvertently discovered intervals and their relationships by noodling around with playing melodies I already memorized in different keys. Literally just picking a new starting point for the melody, and seeing if I could work out how to play it by ear. I noticed that the "distance" between the notes was the same, and even though I was playing entirely different notes, it still sounded similar? I didn't know there was a name for this relationship between notes, but it fascinated me and I tried noodling around with it even more. I ended up transposing a bunch of melodies into all sorts of different keys. I was extremely surprised when I found that, for the most part, I was able to keep the exact same fingering. Some things needed me to stretch a wee bit further than others, but for the most part, it was virtually identical to what I had learned originally.
I haven’t gotten to that part of the video yet, but this isn’t actually true. Db Major, Eb Major, F Major, Gb major, Ab Major, and Bb major all have different fingerings, just to name a few.
@@Furnischer in terms of the relation of whole steps and half steps, totally. But, if you were to try to play every scale with the typical c major fingering (12312345 on RH, 54321321 on LH), you’re gonna run into some uncomfortable hand positions.
This is only really true for piano though. For ocarina, which I play, c is easiest. I was wondering what he was gonna say that made the braid statement true, and it's that it was an incomplete statement only applicable to pianists.
Chopin used to teach his students the b major scale as the first one. if you think about it it's genius because it's easy in both the categories you listed
This applies to piano technique beyond scales; leaps and jumps are also far easier on the black keys because you are less likely to clip notes on either side and the hand doesn't need to be rotated as far around to play them. There's a reason why composers like Liszt wrote a lot of their virtuoso pieces in keys with a lot of black notes.
Yeah jumps with white keys are really hard. I played Wilde Jagd a couple months ago and there's a notorious passage towards the end where the right hand jumps up and down by 3 octaves. Half of it is actually fairly easy coz it's just black keys but the other half that's on white is SUPER tricky to do cleanly
I’m a bass player and I’ve been trying to teach myself piano with TH-cam videos on and off for a couple of years now and this has easily been the most informative 10 minutes. I’ve figured out the notes, chord shapes, but practicing scales I’ve always been getting tripped up on where to start my fingerings and where to cross over. Thank you!
You know this already of course; but for non-Bass players, scale shapes make it pretty easy because there''s a major scale shape and a minor scale shape.
Charles, I took lessons from a classical pianist who taught me all the scales with the same fingering as the C major scale. After almost 25 years playing like this, I saw a video of you last year and I noticed that you were doing things differently. I talked to several pianist friends and noticed that I was the only one to play scales that way, all with the same format. I was in shock.
It's actually a very beneficial way to practise all the scales, because it helps you out in those moments when only a weird fingering is feasible. That said, teacher definitely should've also taught you the standard ways! Those help a lot with intuition when playing in different keys.
@@nomannic1 I'm entirely self-taught and I learned all the scales starting from 1 (thumb). Crossing the thumb over to Gb just comes naturally. It just never occurred to me that I was allowed to start scales with a different finger - haha
i have always thought the same... though i still use c major a lot because it's easier to see the accidentals that i can use. p.s. i've heard from somewhere that chopin taught his students the b major scale first, because it fits the fingers like a glove, very interesting i'd say
I heard someone say that B major is the scale piano students start with in Russia, and considering the huge amount of incredible composers that Russia has offered it might not be that bad!
B major was the first scale I mastered! I learned C major first, obviously, but I got really good at B major before any other scale. It really does fit the fingers like a glove.
oh yeah, to me the most difficult thing about learning keys is to build up the accidental / chromatic intuition and muscle memory on each, there are some keys that I can use all 12 notes in one phrase and sound good, and there are some keys i can barely use the 4# blues note
The old college professor taught to start the Bb major scale on 3 in the right hand. I've always played it the way you've just demonstrated, with 4 then 1. I got through my piano proficiency and spread that particular technique to all my classmates. It puts a smile on my face when I see like-minded people sharing this kind of thing.
Very good point, thank you for bringing this up. C major is the most technically demanding scale for sure. In the Taubman Approach, we start with B major for the same reasons you point out - it fits the natural shape of the hand. When we finally get to C major, instead of curling the fingers excessively (which makes it difficult to play fast), we use the so called "in and out motion" (which you also mention) which means moving slightly towards and away from the black keys to adjust for the length of each finger. It takes practice, but the end result is that the C major scale feels as comfortable to play as the B major. If you want to know more Robert Durso has free videos about this on TH-cam.
These reasons were pointed out by Chopin almost 200 years ago. He made his student start by these scales because he considered that the shape of human hand was oriented to play on black keys. It is not coincidence that one of his hardest etudes is the one on C major (op 10 no 1)
I just started learning piano a couple weeks ago, but I've been watching a lot of videos to know what I should be starting with. I came across some interesting videos about Chopin and how he taught his students, and in that video it referenced that Chopin actually started all of his students out learning B Major, while having them start with their 1st finger on E because then the keys in the signature perfectly line up with their fingers allowing them to learn a more proper and relaxed hand posture form the start. I believe the video also mentioned that Chopin also avoided teaching his students C Major immediately for similar reasons stated in this video. Personally, I found starting on B Major like that made getting the basic fingering pattern really intuitive and easy. The only sad thing is that I've been struggling to find any easier pieces written in B Major, so I've had to transpose pieces to make them work. Great video!
Ive been playing for quite a while so my view of what's easy and what's hard is quite skewed, but (now seriously) Liszt's Cloches de Geneve is in b major and the first 2 pages are pretty easy and really beautiful. You could try going further but it does get slightly more difficult.
3rd that. 50-year guitar player and now a 3rd year pianist. (both self taught) Just starting to explore theory and glad I found this 'tube. Avoids having to relearn scale fingering.
great job again, Charles! I learn something new every video and you always amaze me. The fact that you make learning this stuff fun is super awesome. Thank you for all of your hard work!
I just finished my first year of piano at school, and I just figured this out last month. This video would have been a big help back in August 😂😂. Great Analysis!!!
THANK YOU FOR THIS INSIGHT! My first piano lesson was on November 30, 1955. Yeah, I'm old. But I have never heard nor considered the obvious: all scales are the same - 1,2,3,1,2,3,4; you merely start some keys at a different point in this sequence. I'm going downstairs to my piano to practice something NEW to me! 😂
I started to learn piano on my own a few years ago and I remember that, after just a look at some of the major scales patterns, I started to figure out all the other shapes and some of those came out surprisingly natural (es. F# major, B major). We guitar players have it definitely easier because we use symmetrical shapes that fit all the scales, but chords in altered keys are a pain to play in certain parts of the neck (ex. the chords in the key of C# on 1st position).
Brilliant explanation. I just resumed jazz lesson a month ago after a 20 years hiatus and so I’m relearning my scales. I struggle with playing both hands particularly because get tripped up on the 3-4 fingering that you described in the C scale. I don’t struggle the same way in most other scales. I wondered why, and now I know. Makes me feel better. 😊
I'm a piano teacher and never realized the trick with the fingering. Very cool! I bet that takes some of the intimidation out of learning new scales. Never realized the trick with the D scale either. I have a few students just getting into scales, can't wait to show them these things and see if it helps them!
Same thing applies to mallet percussion instruments too. It’s hard to know what notes we are playing or if we’re playing the right notes if we do runs in C major. As opposed to E major (best scale ever for these instruments) we play 2 black notes followed by 2 white notes and repeated. Much easier to follow in that instance
I play piano for my Jazz ensemble at my college and I never knew that fingerings repeat themselves for every scale. It all seemed like different scale fingerings that I needed to memorize
I feel so...damn...stupid. I went through my Master's in Music Composition. I took some organ lessons, damnit! Did it ever occur to me? Did anyone ever explain to me that it's supposed to be the same damn pattern? No! It never, ever, EVER clicked. I've always had keyboard teachers yelling at me because of fingering...AND THIS WHOLE TIME IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE SAME PATTERN? Fingering is THE number one problem I've always had on piano (and organ) this whole time! (That, and right-hand dexterity, but what do you want from me. Guitar is my primary instrument.)
That side view of C maj vs Db maj is a perfect illustration. It’s like the difference between the standard QWERTY keyboard vs the Dvorak keyboard layout - you can see and hear how much less you have to move your fingers with Dvorak. I bet if you played those two scales with the power off that the Db scale would sound quieter. 👂
This seems a bit of recurring topic. I hear what you're saying but my memory of learning to play C major as a child was never, "Wow! this is difficult, my fingers are different lengths and I somehow have to bend and adapt them to the keys". It's something you do quite naturally and easily. But I do remember when I got round to learning B major, thinking, "Hhm, this is a bit more difficult with all those sharps!"
B major is literally the most natural feeling scale in the hand though. 5 sharps isn't hard to remember, and your thumb is the only one playing white keys.
But when it comes to harder piano technique, C major is harder than other keys. Obviously C major is the easiest to understand when you're just learning and have to try to memorize which black key to play. But when you're actually playing pieces, learning the notes is just a small part of the overall process of perfecting a piece. It's easier techniquewise to have black keys as well.
The fact that You really are playing scales starting with DIFFERENT fingers just blows out my mind! I've never heard of something like that! In music school or college, we'd ALWAYS started with 1st finger, no matter, what the scale is))) It was like an axiom Thanks, i've learned something really new today=)
I honestly can't believe I've been playing piano (on and off) for 20 YEARS, and this is the first time I've heard that different scales start on different fingers. Time to practice, i guess.
This video just put together things my body just understood but I didn’t actually see it in my brain. One of the most eye opening videos I’ve ever seen. Thanks for the content!
I recommend using Keysight to give a lovely visual overlay of the keys you're pressing at any given moment. You don't need to show the note stream, just putting the key overlay over the top of your physical piano can give a better indication of what keys you're pressing on the overhead shot.
When I started teaching myself to play piano at age 12 I always learned songs in C major because I thought it was the easiest to play, and any music with black notes was harder, not realizing I was learning the hardest key to play in, and 47 years later now that I know I’m glad I did
Thank you for this video, I don't feel so stupid now. I've been struggling with the F# minor scale, to the point where there's been a low-key psychological block (no pun intended); this same block can be applied to the B minor scale in my case. I've managed to clear away half of that block, and you just cleared away the other half. I start practice every day with Hanon, Exercise no. 39, solely for the purposes of developing the musculature needed for playing. By the time I get to F# minor, given the speed goal I have, I'm literally at the point of muscle exhaustion (muscle failure is possible, by the way, ask me how I know), and my hands don't respond as well at that point. For those unfamiliar with Hanon, the suggested goal for scales in the book is 120 bpm (sixteenth notes); my personal goal at this point is 100 bpm, and my current speed is 88 bpm (I'm getting there!). After 19 scales (let's not forget the minor ones), I'm understandably a little fatigued. But it starts with C major, and it's best to get the most difficult scale out of the way first.
Bro I'm so glad someone professional finally made a video like this, i'm a percussionist going into my third semester of college piano courses and C gives me hell every single time i play it. Same on every keyboard instrument actually (marimba/vibes/xylo), but it's way worse on piano.
Another way to see that there's only one scale fingering is as follows. All the scales of the seven modes of C can be played with 123 1234, except for Lydian which is 1234 123, but that's just inverting the two groups, and so it's essentially still 123 1234. We know each mode of C has a relative Ionian mode, which is the major key containing the same notes as that mode of C, e.g. C Dorian has the relative Ionian of Bb major. This tells us 7 out of all the 12 major scales can be played with 123 1234 fingering: C, Bb, F, G, Eb, Ab, and Db. Since the B major scale is also played with 123 1234 fingering, we can apply the same argument to see that this fingering works as well for B, E, A, F#, and D. Together, those are all the 12 major scales.
I started learning how to play piano 60 years ago, and have never heard of the 3-4 fingering pattern! I was also taught to always curl my fingers. I'm going to try this method!
I have followed finger numbers before, and NEVER REALIZED that the thumb cross over was on a white key after a black key for that reason. IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE and feels SO MUCH MORE NATURAL NOW!
When learning the scales I found C maj to be the most obvious to relate to, but once you learn how the scales relate to each other, progressively adding sharps and taking away flats I felt like C maj just doesn't really have any anchor points. The F# in Gmaj seems daunting at first but later it makes such a nice anchor to letting you know the position you are in in the scale, it doesn't have that 343 pattern you have to keep track of in C. The only scale I really dislike is Fmaj, mostly because it starts with a 4th finger instead of a 3rd like the rest.
I remember seeing a few videos about the Janko keyboard, a special type of piano keyboard designed so that every major scale plays exactly the same! The notes of every whole step are right next to each other horizontally, and the semitones between those whole steps are one row in front of or behind the row that the other notes are on. I've never had the chance to play a Janko keyboard, but I imagine that learning how would be pretty fun!
I had a parallel conversation about this core topic with my pastor when prepping for this past Sunday’s music. C Major/ A minor is the scale/ mode that reminds me I need to practice more as there is no physical border that allows you to rely purely on muscle memory/ touch to play it cleanly in the heat of the moment.
Nice concept! What about the left hand? For example: I usted to play the G major scale up with (LH): 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 and then the A note with 4... So this theory changes everything right? If i understood it correctly I should play: 3 2 1 3 2 1 4 3
Wow. I never ever considered any of this! As a self-learning "pianist" for my composing purposes I am more or less glued to Cmaj/min scale and then transpose my stuff in the DAW after I'm done sketching it on the keyboard... TNX, will try to free my mind and hopefully the fingers will follow! :D
There's a reason why Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder played in flat keys a lot like Eb minor and B(Cb) major, for the black key landmarks available compared with the keys with few or no landmarks on the white keys
I'm a classically-trained pianist and clarinetist. While I began learning on the piano and have basically been playing all my life, it's the clarinet I took up and spent the most time studying and learning. So while I did hear in college music theory the C major scale is the hardest one, I don't think I ever actually got an explanation of it. And I never received the revelation about the fingerings with each scale. I just figured it was something you just had to memorize. But I would say on clarinet, C major really is the easiest scale to play, or at least one of the easiest. The only difficulty is the octave break between A and B and playing it smoothly without losing your tone.
Concert Eb, concert F, concert Ab, and clarion concert Bb are all much easier to play than concert C. None require register changes and none require fingers on both hands to be moved at the same time. Chalameau concert C requires a register jump from chalameau A to clarion B and a shift from either right or left clarion B to left or right clarion C# respectively. In clarion register it's easier, but still requires a jump from clarion B to altissimo C#. There are many other scales I'd consider to be easier than concert C, but the listed are by far the easiest on clarinet.
@@mazeradeville2911 I said the C major scale, which *is* concert Bb. Concert C is the D major scale on clarinet. But I'm not sure what you're talking about, because concert Bb, aka C major scale, does require a register change.
@@clintonwilcox4690 "Clarion Bb" means concert Bb that starts in the clarion register. There is no register change since all the pitches in concert Bb exist in the clarion register.
@@mazeradeville2911 Okay, so I'm guessing you're just here to show off your knowledge of obscure terms instead of really trying to contribute to the conversation, but obviously the C major scale can be played without a register change. A reasonable person would have understood that I was only talking about a register change if you start on the lowest C you can play instead of the next highest one. But I guess being a contrarian has become a hobby of a lot of people.
@@clintonwilcox4690 Clarion is not an obscure term. Any clarinet player who has an education past that of a middle schooler should at least know about the chalameau and clarion register as well as their names. They may not learn of the altissimo register until high school, but learning how to access the clarion register is a first year skill. Otherwise what do you call it? "concert Bb that starts on the C where you don't press the register key?" Calling it chalameau or clarion concert Bb is way easier. Plus, many bands, including the ones I play in, have their clarinet section play the clarion concert Bb scale as their warmup both because clarion C is a much better tuning note than chalameau C and because moving air faster to voice the upper half of the clarion register makes for better acclamation to an actual performance environment.
I say this to my private percussion students all the time! Because there's no place to "check in" with the shape, it's challenging because it's all about managing the distance ce your mallets travel.
Thank you so much for putting this video out! I’ve felt stuck in this part of the course and this may help me to understand those pesky fingerings better 😮💨
A lot of much older music sheets will have fingering printed into them. My very first piano lesson, many moons ago, my teacher went over this with me and taught me how they are merely a guide and to do what feels natural when playing, but generally the rule of 3 and 4 is found all the way through. But yeah, never feel compelled to always start a scale with your thumb, as you'd just be making it more difficult for yourself.
For my beginning piano students, I always teach the B/Ti Major Scale first. Followed by E, A, D, G and finally C. Eventually we get to F and the flat scales. Easiest way for me to teach technique and note reading. Also, my students had an easier to connecting the ✌️ sign with the 2 black keys. And the middle three finger, what I like to call “tiger claws”, are for the 3 black keys. The Nancy and Randall Faber Piano Adventures uses a similar pedagogy. I’m a viola player, but piano and string bass are my secondary.
Interesting video, but now I'm wondering whether the conclusion also holds up when going beyond playing linear scales - most melodies feature quite a bit of jumps, arpeggios, leaps, and so on. Or just playing chords, in general? For example, an Abm7 chord (mostly black keys) compared to a Dm7 chord (only white keys). Or a simple IM7 - iim7 - iiim7 chord movement (CM7 - Dm7 - Em7 compared to GbM7 - Abm7 - Bbm7). Might be an interesting idea for a future video, maybe? Which keys are easiest/hardest from a chord/accompaniment perspective? Keep up the good work!
It helps me to remember that fingers 2 and 3 go on the group of 2 black keys. Fingers 2, 3, and 4 go on the group of 3 black keys. Chopin taught his students the B Major scale first because of the reasons you listed too. I want to get my scales to be polished and fast like yours.
I love this explanation Charles, totally right, C major has no shape at all and is harder indeed. Never thought about the same pattern though with just starting on different finger. Just tried them all, remarkable, works every time! Much easier than starting all scales on 1.
So scales are like modes, only with names like E Ring-fingerian, G Indexian, etc (I've probably gotten those wrong lol but you get the idea), and with different names for each hand. Fascinating!
The A flat major scale, RH, is most comfortable when started "3-2-1-3" rather than "3-4-1". Scales with just one black key (F+ and G+) are most comfortable with finger 3 playing the black key in both hands! (There IS more than just one fingering for any scale!)
Way back in the 80s in college when I had to learn scales I too said it was the hardest, because it's easier to kind of lose track where you are. With f major for example, you've got that b flat black key you have to hit, which gives you a reference point. All white keys makes you have to pay perticular attention of where you are.
After many years of noodling around on a piano, I finally decided to learn all my scales with the proper fingerings. I started on C major and was somewhat discouraged by how hard it is, but seeing how much other people struggle with it is honestly really reassuring.
Great video Charles! I play guitar - and I've always noticed that playing a little piano or keyboards would make my hands hurt a little bit -- I always chalked it up to my guitar-player DNA -- now I see the real reason why -- because I always screw around with D Dorian or A minor
Hi Charles, I heard that when Chopin (yes - that one) was a piano teacher, he always taught the scale of B major because that was the easiest to play and the students arrived faster at a point where they could hear themselves actually succeeding.
I can't remember who the famous classical pianist was who said this (Arthur Rubenstein?), but in an interview he was asked what's the most difficult piece you have ever played and he responded: the C major scale.
to add on to that, the whole-tone scale (key of C) is (at least what I find to be) an easy scale to play. It also follows a straightforward pattern of all intervals being whole tones instead of having semitones mixed in. Weird sounding scale though.
It occurs to me watching the distortions of your hand as you do the C, that that could be another good reason to use it for beginners. (which I am by the way, lol) It got me used to sometimes having to wiggle my hand around the keyboard. By the time I'd mastered C my hands were already like "ok yeah it's gonna be a lil uncomfy sometimes."
Wow, that is the best news I've heard in my two months of piano practice! (Yes, two months). Wow--now I don't have to be "afraid" of sharps and flats. Thanks so much! By the way, I'm a Cornell Graduate (class of 1980).
As an absolute begginer using piano mostly for composing, one thing I really dislike about the black keys is how thin they are. I can't play fast and hit them accurately. I'm sure this can be helped with with proper hand position, but I'm not a pianist.
Before even watching the video, I'll say: This is true. I started out with C-minor / Eb-major (not because anyone told me, because it felt obvious, I practiced by myself) because it was way WAAAY easier physically and you had the black keys as "targets" that made it easier to visually and by feel identify the scale and where you were. C-major is still one of those scales that I don't very much enjoy playing :D
Not on Cello. That open C string helps us massively, meaning you can really easily do 2 octaves with no position changes. But, those 'easier' scales are much harder. For example C#/Db is a nightmare, cause it is so easy to default back to C while doing some of the worse shifts.
This was very much like the realization I came to with scales and modes on the guitar. The shape is always the same, you just start at different points.
🫨 omg! I was just starting to mess up with the Bflat major scale and I was thinking to myself this is imposible (I was trying to play it with the fingering of C major). With this I realized which ringer to start and easy peasy
I still think F# major can rival C just because of the different separations (it's way less comfortable than its circle-of-fifths neighbors B and C#, for instance) but yeah
I agree with all of it, but how often do you play scales? I feel that when it comes to playing actual tunes, it doesn't make any difference (as long as you can visualise they notes in the key without hesitation, that is).
Piano scales are like rudiments for drummers - a building block. Plus for classical, you really need the agility and strength that comes only after hours of practising scales
Self-taught guy with bad habits here, going back and learning stuff “the right way.” How do we extrapolate this info to the modes? Would the fingerings for say, Ab Dorian, match the fingerings for F# Major since they’re all the same notes? Also, how do we go about learning the left hand fingerings?
For the C major scale I just realized the fingers are to be crossed where there are no black keys between white keys: 3 white key cluster for 3 first fingers, followed by a 4 white key cluster for 4 first fingers, and then the cycle repeats.
I enjoy playing C scale very much. I much enjoy many scales. B major scale I don’t use I will gravitate to BbMaj, same with EMaj, I will go to EbMaj, I do enjoy playing in AMaj, and AbMaj. I think my fav key to play in is probably C/Am, and probably F/Dm, and G/Em Majors. I seem to play a lot in these keys. I’m still at beginner stages. Been playing for a few years, but have really struggled to learn. I know some but not as much as I wish I did. Doing it all on my own has been so much harder. I never think to play around in like Gb or Db I just play DMaj or GMaj. I know a lot of ppl enjoy those scales. Maybe down the road I’ll learn more and enjoy the harder scales. I do quite enjoy minor scales.. definitely my fav.
For me, the difficulty isn't playing the black keys, the difficulty comes when you start sharping and flatting the white keys that sharp or flat to another white key. Also, sharps always seem harder to me than flats. The keys I find most difficult to play in are A, E, B, F#, C#, Gb, and Cb. C, G, D, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, and Db I find pretty easy.
Chopin used to teach beginners the B major scale. He was very into what we nowadays call ergonomics (as was Liszt). Incidentally folks, practice Green Dolphin Street in Eb. Silly perhaps, but C is regarded as the "beginner key" on jams and leaders will sometimes push you. I'd go further - this is an excellent tune to start learning structure so you can play in any key. You'll thank me many years and singers later. I swear I've had it called in every key. (This can be a bit silly of course, since no singer can do B but can't manage Bb or C. But they might have an arrangement for more than you...)
I started piano at 3 and half years old, and my teacher, a Sainte-Croix nun, told me repeatedly to position my hands as if I was holding an apple. This is how I kept playing the keys until now (I'm 66) and I've been told by pro musicians - I'm not, far from it - that my keyboard touch is remarkable (in a positive way, of course) as it can be soft and melodic. So to see great players do amazing things on the keyboard whilst maintaining a flat hand posture just does not compute in my brain. Anyhow, great channel content.
As someone who has played the piano for most of my whole life, yet not ever really delved heavily into music theory and whatnot, I always find videos like this fascinating, because I'm always like "oh, THIS is why the Db scale feels more comfortable than the C major scale." Like, it's something I've intuitively known for years, but seeing it actually explicitly explained is super cool.
Snag the free scale chart here! cornellmusicacademy.com/major-scales
"Don't forget to check your spam folder!"
Sounds about right. I know where my email address ends up if I enter it there.
Can you please make a minor scale grouping/fingering chart?
Thanks for the chart!! Do you also have a left hand fingering chart? Big fan of the channel!!
"There is only one fingering"
That's what she said.
Oh no, i better not make tunes in c key then if its the hardest one.
I remember I was asked to play C major scale and arpeggio for a piano exam at Berklee and I had some inaccuracies. One of the teachers said to me, "You thought this would be the easiest scale you didn't have to practice, did you?" I was like screw you, that was genuinely the one I practiced the most. It was like 9 years ago, I can still remember what the color of his shirt was and which room it was in.
Did you do well overall tho?
@@TheUnderscore_ I don't remember, I have to find my transcript lol. I just remember that I was very annoyed
Yeah what a douchebag of a teacher
People are so judgemental.....
music teachers can be the worst
That thing about every scale being the same fingering with a different starting point was mind blowing. I can't believe I've never heard of that.
Except for F major?
I discovered this about a year into self-teaching the piano. I did a lot of my learning by ear, and inadvertently discovered intervals and their relationships by noodling around with playing melodies I already memorized in different keys. Literally just picking a new starting point for the melody, and seeing if I could work out how to play it by ear.
I noticed that the "distance" between the notes was the same, and even though I was playing entirely different notes, it still sounded similar? I didn't know there was a name for this relationship between notes, but it fascinated me and I tried noodling around with it even more. I ended up transposing a bunch of melodies into all sorts of different keys.
I was extremely surprised when I found that, for the most part, I was able to keep the exact same fingering. Some things needed me to stretch a wee bit further than others, but for the most part, it was virtually identical to what I had learned originally.
I haven’t gotten to that part of the video yet, but this isn’t actually true. Db Major, Eb Major, F Major, Gb major, Ab Major, and Bb major all have different fingerings, just to name a few.
@@JoshuaBurniece Like the comment said, they may have different *starting points* but it's more or less sort of the same
@@Furnischer in terms of the relation of whole steps and half steps, totally. But, if you were to try to play every scale with the typical c major fingering (12312345 on RH, 54321321 on LH), you’re gonna run into some uncomfortable hand positions.
It’s the hardest to physically play, the easiest to conceptualize. Edit: for piano
This is only really true for piano though. For ocarina, which I play, c is easiest. I was wondering what he was gonna say that made the braid statement true, and it's that it was an incomplete statement only applicable to pianists.
Yeah for sax it's just bring my fingers up and down on the main keys with nothing extra.
@@vinsanity_52 ah hello fellow sax player
Also easiest to read
Chopin used to teach his students the b major scale as the first one. if you think about it it's genius because it's easy in both the categories you listed
This applies to piano technique beyond scales; leaps and jumps are also far easier on the black keys because you are less likely to clip notes on either side and the hand doesn't need to be rotated as far around to play them. There's a reason why composers like Liszt wrote a lot of their virtuoso pieces in keys with a lot of black notes.
So right. I played Un Sospiro, which is in Db, and it would be nearly impossible in C
Lmao imagine having to play la campanella in A minor
Yeah jumps with white keys are really hard. I played Wilde Jagd a couple months ago and there's a notorious passage towards the end where the right hand jumps up and down by 3 octaves. Half of it is actually fairly easy coz it's just black keys but the other half that's on white is SUPER tricky to do cleanly
The first Transcendental Etude is built around all-white arpeggios and scales. It makes it way harder than it sounds lol
If you're landing on D, G, or A, just aim between the black keys instead of at the bottom end of the key.
I’m a bass player and I’ve been trying to teach myself piano with TH-cam videos on and off for a couple of years now and this has easily been the most informative 10 minutes.
I’ve figured out the notes, chord shapes, but practicing scales I’ve always been getting tripped up on where to start my fingerings and where to cross over. Thank you!
You know this already of course; but for non-Bass players, scale shapes make it pretty easy because there''s a major scale shape and a minor scale shape.
Charles, I took lessons from a classical pianist who taught me all the scales with the same fingering as the C major scale. After almost 25 years playing like this, I saw a video of you last year and I noticed that you were doing things differently. I talked to several pianist friends and noticed that I was the only one to play scales that way, all with the same format. I was in shock.
That’s crazy 😮😂
I'm in shock right now
Are you telling me you played Db major starting with your thumb and crossing over to the Gb.... How does that even work....
It's actually a very beneficial way to practise all the scales, because it helps you out in those moments when only a weird fingering is feasible.
That said, teacher definitely should've also taught you the standard ways! Those help a lot with intuition when playing in different keys.
@@nomannic1 I'm entirely self-taught and I learned all the scales starting from 1 (thumb). Crossing the thumb over to Gb just comes naturally. It just never occurred to me that I was allowed to start scales with a different finger - haha
i have always thought the same... though i still use c major a lot because it's easier to see the accidentals that i can use.
p.s. i've heard from somewhere that chopin taught his students the b major scale first, because it fits the fingers like a glove, very interesting i'd say
I heard someone say that B major is the scale piano students start with in Russia, and considering the huge amount of incredible composers that Russia has offered it might not be that bad!
B major was the first scale I mastered! I learned C major first, obviously, but I got really good at B major before any other scale. It really does fit the fingers like a glove.
oh yeah, to me the most difficult thing about learning keys is to build up the accidental / chromatic intuition and muscle memory on each, there are some keys that I can use all 12 notes in one phrase and sound good, and there are some keys i can barely use the 4# blues note
Although not for piano specifically, I'm pretty sure my band class taught Bb first as well
@@KingNedya i suppose since brass instruments are tuned to b-flat, that makes sense
The old college professor taught to start the Bb major scale on 3 in the right hand. I've always played it the way you've just demonstrated, with 4 then 1. I got through my piano proficiency and spread that particular technique to all my classmates. It puts a smile on my face when I see like-minded people sharing this kind of thing.
Wait really? That’s actually really cool that you can comfortably do that… I’ve always gone from 2 to 1
@@penninna run that fingering down for me. I'm trying to picture it. Do you play any 4-1 transitions, in the right hand, using this method?
@@leekendrick8292 nevermind I do the first one as a 2-1 transition but the rest as 4-1 (2-123-1234-1…)
Very good point, thank you for bringing this up. C major is the most technically demanding scale for sure. In the Taubman Approach, we start with B major for the same reasons you point out - it fits the natural shape of the hand. When we finally get to C major, instead of curling the fingers excessively (which makes it difficult to play fast), we use the so called "in and out motion" (which you also mention) which means moving slightly towards and away from the black keys to adjust for the length of each finger. It takes practice, but the end result is that the C major scale feels as comfortable to play as the B major. If you want to know more Robert Durso has free videos about this on TH-cam.
You are right, I was naturally shifting my hands to the side but moving it toward the piano is even better
These reasons were pointed out by Chopin almost 200 years ago. He made his student start by these scales because he considered that the shape of human hand was oriented to play on black keys. It is not coincidence that one of his hardest etudes is the one on C major (op 10 no 1)
I just started learning piano a couple weeks ago, but I've been watching a lot of videos to know what I should be starting with. I came across some interesting videos about Chopin and how he taught his students, and in that video it referenced that Chopin actually started all of his students out learning B Major, while having them start with their 1st finger on E because then the keys in the signature perfectly line up with their fingers allowing them to learn a more proper and relaxed hand posture form the start. I believe the video also mentioned that Chopin also avoided teaching his students C Major immediately for similar reasons stated in this video. Personally, I found starting on B Major like that made getting the basic fingering pattern really intuitive and easy. The only sad thing is that I've been struggling to find any easier pieces written in B Major, so I've had to transpose pieces to make them work. Great video!
The YT Channel and Series I referenced is called "The Chopin Method"
Try liszt's sonata in b minor, great beginner piece, youll be ripping that piano in no time
Ive been playing for quite a while so my view of what's easy and what's hard is quite skewed, but (now seriously) Liszt's Cloches de Geneve is in b major and the first 2 pages are pretty easy and really beautiful. You could try going further but it does get slightly more difficult.
for a guitar player who just for fun messes around on a piano sometimes without ANY training this was an absolute revelation 🎉
Yes! This 123-1234 thing is totally eye-opening as a 25-year guitar player who's only flirted with piano
Second that
3rd that.
50-year guitar player and now a 3rd year pianist. (both self taught) Just starting to explore theory and glad I found this 'tube. Avoids having to relearn scale fingering.
What's a relevation?
@@d.l.loonabide9981 check a dictionary or google translate. hard to explain :)
great job again, Charles! I learn something new every video and you always amaze me. The fact that you make learning this stuff fun is super awesome. Thank you for all of your hard work!
I just finished my first year of piano at school, and I just figured this out last month. This video would have been a big help back in August 😂😂. Great Analysis!!!
THANK YOU FOR THIS INSIGHT! My first piano lesson was on November 30, 1955. Yeah, I'm old. But I have never heard nor considered the obvious: all scales are the same - 1,2,3,1,2,3,4; you merely start some keys at a different point in this sequence. I'm going downstairs to my piano to practice something NEW to me! 😂
THIS has been the most important piano lesson I’ve learned in my LIFE!
I started to learn piano on my own a few years ago and I remember that, after just a look at some of the major scales patterns, I started to figure out all the other shapes and some of those came out surprisingly natural (es. F# major, B major).
We guitar players have it definitely easier because we use symmetrical shapes that fit all the scales, but chords in altered keys are a pain to play in certain parts of the neck (ex. the chords in the key of C# on 1st position).
Brilliant explanation. I just resumed jazz lesson a month ago after a 20 years hiatus and so I’m relearning my scales. I struggle with playing both hands particularly because get tripped up on the 3-4 fingering that you described in the C scale. I don’t struggle the same way in most other scales. I wondered why, and now I know. Makes me feel better. 😊
I agree. Why deprive yourself of all those lovely half-tones?
B flat major, E flat major, A flat major are my go-to keys.
E flat major is probably my favorite to play. Easy to play, easy to sing, easy to read… easy all around.
I'm a piano teacher and never realized the trick with the fingering. Very cool! I bet that takes some of the intimidation out of learning new scales. Never realized the trick with the D scale either. I have a few students just getting into scales, can't wait to show them these things and see if it helps them!
Same thing applies to mallet percussion instruments too. It’s hard to know what notes we are playing or if we’re playing the right notes if we do runs in C major. As opposed to E major (best scale ever for these instruments) we play 2 black notes followed by 2 white notes and repeated. Much easier to follow in that instance
Yes! I think C major is significantly more difficult relative to other scales on mallet percussion instruments than on piano.
this was the best explanation of scale fingerings I have ever heard. 123-1234 just starts at different spots in the sequence. Thank you.
I play piano for my Jazz ensemble at my college and I never knew that fingerings repeat themselves for every scale. It all seemed like different scale fingerings that I needed to memorize
I feel so...damn...stupid. I went through my Master's in Music Composition. I took some organ lessons, damnit! Did it ever occur to me? Did anyone ever explain to me that it's supposed to be the same damn pattern? No! It never, ever, EVER clicked. I've always had keyboard teachers yelling at me because of fingering...AND THIS WHOLE TIME IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE SAME PATTERN? Fingering is THE number one problem I've always had on piano (and organ) this whole time! (That, and right-hand dexterity, but what do you want from me. Guitar is my primary instrument.)
That side view of C maj vs Db maj is a perfect illustration. It’s like the difference between the standard QWERTY keyboard vs the Dvorak keyboard layout - you can see and hear how much less you have to move your fingers with Dvorak.
I bet if you played those two scales with the power off that the Db scale would sound quieter. 👂
This seems a bit of recurring topic. I hear what you're saying but my memory of learning to play C major as a child was never, "Wow! this is difficult, my fingers are different lengths and I somehow have to bend and adapt them to the keys". It's something you do quite naturally and easily. But I do remember when I got round to learning B major, thinking, "Hhm, this is a bit more difficult with all those sharps!"
B major is literally the most natural feeling scale in the hand though. 5 sharps isn't hard to remember, and your thumb is the only one playing white keys.
But when it comes to harder piano technique, C major is harder than other keys. Obviously C major is the easiest to understand when you're just learning and have to try to memorize which black key to play. But when you're actually playing pieces, learning the notes is just a small part of the overall process of perfecting a piece. It's easier techniquewise to have black keys as well.
The fact that You really are playing scales starting with DIFFERENT fingers just blows out my mind! I've never heard of something like that! In music school or college, we'd ALWAYS started with 1st finger, no matter, what the scale is))) It was like an axiom
Thanks, i've learned something really new today=)
I honestly can't believe I've been playing piano (on and off) for 20 YEARS, and this is the first time I've heard that different scales start on different fingers. Time to practice, i guess.
I am literally shocked. I also need to work on my scales again. Shit man
This video just put together things my body just understood but I didn’t actually see it in my brain. One of the most eye opening videos I’ve ever seen. Thanks for the content!
I recommend using Keysight to give a lovely visual overlay of the keys you're pressing at any given moment. You don't need to show the note stream, just putting the key overlay over the top of your physical piano can give a better indication of what keys you're pressing on the overhead shot.
When I started teaching myself to play piano at age 12 I always learned songs in C major because I thought it was the easiest to play, and any music with black notes was harder, not realizing I was learning the hardest key to play in, and 47 years later now that I know I’m glad I did
Thank you for this video, I don't feel so stupid now. I've been struggling with the F# minor scale, to the point where there's been a low-key psychological block (no pun intended); this same block can be applied to the B minor scale in my case. I've managed to clear away half of that block, and you just cleared away the other half. I start practice every day with Hanon, Exercise no. 39, solely for the purposes of developing the musculature needed for playing. By the time I get to F# minor, given the speed goal I have, I'm literally at the point of muscle exhaustion (muscle failure is possible, by the way, ask me how I know), and my hands don't respond as well at that point. For those unfamiliar with Hanon, the suggested goal for scales in the book is 120 bpm (sixteenth notes); my personal goal at this point is 100 bpm, and my current speed is 88 bpm (I'm getting there!). After 19 scales (let's not forget the minor ones), I'm understandably a little fatigued. But it starts with C major, and it's best to get the most difficult scale out of the way first.
This is very true. There is no reference when looking at it either for hand eye coordination. Try the Petrouchka intro lol
Bro I'm so glad someone professional finally made a video like this, i'm a percussionist going into my third semester of college piano courses and C gives me hell every single time i play it. Same on every keyboard instrument actually (marimba/vibes/xylo), but it's way worse on piano.
Another way to see that there's only one scale fingering is as follows. All the scales of the seven modes of C can be played with 123 1234, except for Lydian which is 1234 123, but that's just inverting the two groups, and so it's essentially still 123 1234. We know each mode of C has a relative Ionian mode, which is the major key containing the same notes as that mode of C, e.g. C Dorian has the relative Ionian of Bb major.
This tells us 7 out of all the 12 major scales can be played with 123 1234 fingering: C, Bb, F, G, Eb, Ab, and Db. Since the B major scale is also played with 123 1234 fingering, we can apply the same argument to see that this fingering works as well for B, E, A, F#, and D. Together, those are all the 12 major scales.
Really clever analysis!
I started learning how to play piano 60 years ago, and have never heard of the 3-4 fingering pattern! I was also taught to always curl my fingers. I'm going to try this method!
That just blew my mind. It's kind of like modes but for fingerings. Thanks!
I have followed finger numbers before, and NEVER REALIZED that the thumb cross over was on a white key after a black key for that reason.
IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE and feels SO MUCH MORE NATURAL NOW!
When learning the scales I found C maj to be the most obvious to relate to, but once you learn how the scales relate to each other, progressively adding sharps and taking away flats I felt like C maj just doesn't really have any anchor points.
The F# in Gmaj seems daunting at first but later it makes such a nice anchor to letting you know the position you are in in the scale, it doesn't have that 343 pattern you have to keep track of in C. The only scale I really dislike is Fmaj, mostly because it starts with a 4th finger instead of a 3rd like the rest.
this video helped me more than the hundreds of piano lesson videos I watched on youtube. thanks bro 👊
I remember seeing a few videos about the Janko keyboard, a special type of piano keyboard designed so that every major scale plays exactly the same! The notes of every whole step are right next to each other horizontally, and the semitones between those whole steps are one row in front of or behind the row that the other notes are on. I've never had the chance to play a Janko keyboard, but I imagine that learning how would be pretty fun!
I had a parallel conversation about this core topic with my pastor when prepping for this past Sunday’s music. C Major/ A minor is the scale/ mode that reminds me I need to practice more as there is no physical border that allows you to rely purely on muscle memory/ touch to play it cleanly in the heat of the moment.
Nice concept! What about the left hand? For example: I usted to play the G major scale up with (LH): 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 and then the A note with 4... So this theory changes everything right?
If i understood it correctly I should play: 3 2 1 3 2 1 4 3
Wow. I never ever considered any of this! As a self-learning "pianist" for my composing purposes I am more or less glued to Cmaj/min scale and then transpose my stuff in the DAW after I'm done sketching it on the keyboard... TNX, will try to free my mind and hopefully the fingers will follow! :D
There's a reason why Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder played in flat keys a lot like Eb minor and B(Cb) major, for the black key landmarks available compared with the keys with few or no landmarks on the white keys
I'm a classically-trained pianist and clarinetist. While I began learning on the piano and have basically been playing all my life, it's the clarinet I took up and spent the most time studying and learning. So while I did hear in college music theory the C major scale is the hardest one, I don't think I ever actually got an explanation of it. And I never received the revelation about the fingerings with each scale. I just figured it was something you just had to memorize. But I would say on clarinet, C major really is the easiest scale to play, or at least one of the easiest. The only difficulty is the octave break between A and B and playing it smoothly without losing your tone.
Concert Eb, concert F, concert Ab, and clarion concert Bb are all much easier to play than concert C. None require register changes and none require fingers on both hands to be moved at the same time. Chalameau concert C requires a register jump from chalameau A to clarion B and a shift from either right or left clarion B to left or right clarion C# respectively. In clarion register it's easier, but still requires a jump from clarion B to altissimo C#. There are many other scales I'd consider to be easier than concert C, but the listed are by far the easiest on clarinet.
@@mazeradeville2911 I said the C major scale, which *is* concert Bb. Concert C is the D major scale on clarinet. But I'm not sure what you're talking about, because concert Bb, aka C major scale, does require a register change.
@@clintonwilcox4690 "Clarion Bb" means concert Bb that starts in the clarion register. There is no register change since all the pitches in concert Bb exist in the clarion register.
@@mazeradeville2911 Okay, so I'm guessing you're just here to show off your knowledge of obscure terms instead of really trying to contribute to the conversation, but obviously the C major scale can be played without a register change. A reasonable person would have understood that I was only talking about a register change if you start on the lowest C you can play instead of the next highest one. But I guess being a contrarian has become a hobby of a lot of people.
@@clintonwilcox4690 Clarion is not an obscure term. Any clarinet player who has an education past that of a middle schooler should at least know about the chalameau and clarion register as well as their names. They may not learn of the altissimo register until high school, but learning how to access the clarion register is a first year skill. Otherwise what do you call it? "concert Bb that starts on the C where you don't press the register key?" Calling it chalameau or clarion concert Bb is way easier. Plus, many bands, including the ones I play in, have their clarinet section play the clarion concert Bb scale as their warmup both because clarion C is a much better tuning note than chalameau C and because moving air faster to voice the upper half of the clarion register makes for better acclamation to an actual performance environment.
Dude! I've been playing for over 40 years and I never knew that scales start on different fingers. Genius.
I say this to my private percussion students all the time! Because there's no place to "check in" with the shape, it's challenging because it's all about managing the distance ce your mallets travel.
I find it interesting that the structure that he points out also applies to the notes in between major chords. Pretty cool.
Thank you so much for putting this video out!
I’ve felt stuck in this part of the course and this may help me to understand those pesky fingerings better 😮💨
A lot of much older music sheets will have fingering printed into them. My very first piano lesson, many moons ago, my teacher went over this with me and taught me how they are merely a guide and to do what feels natural when playing, but generally the rule of 3 and 4 is found all the way through.
But yeah, never feel compelled to always start a scale with your thumb, as you'd just be making it more difficult for yourself.
Thank you! Sadly, I never learned that some keys should start on d😅deferent fingers. It finally makes sense!
For my beginning piano students, I always teach the B/Ti Major Scale first. Followed by E, A, D, G and finally C. Eventually we get to F and the flat scales. Easiest way for me to teach technique and note reading. Also, my students had an easier to connecting the ✌️ sign with the 2 black keys. And the middle three finger, what I like to call “tiger claws”, are for the 3 black keys. The Nancy and Randall Faber Piano Adventures uses a similar pedagogy. I’m a viola player, but piano and string bass are my secondary.
Brilliant. Explains why I goof up on C major and can nail all the others! Somehow I use the black keys as markers for my respective fingers.
Interesting video, but now I'm wondering whether the conclusion also holds up when going beyond playing linear scales - most melodies feature quite a bit of jumps, arpeggios, leaps, and so on. Or just playing chords, in general?
For example, an Abm7 chord (mostly black keys) compared to a Dm7 chord (only white keys). Or a simple IM7 - iim7 - iiim7 chord movement (CM7 - Dm7 - Em7 compared to GbM7 - Abm7 - Bbm7).
Might be an interesting idea for a future video, maybe? Which keys are easiest/hardest from a chord/accompaniment perspective? Keep up the good work!
It helps me to remember that fingers 2 and 3 go on the group of 2 black keys. Fingers 2, 3, and 4 go on the group of 3 black keys.
Chopin taught his students the B Major scale first because of the reasons you listed too. I want to get my scales to be polished and fast like yours.
i really needed this, thank you!
I remember this from Piano class, V-W fingerings, for Db, Gb, and B major scales
All of my music teachers always taught me that all scales start with finger 1. This makes so much more sense!
I thought this was clickbait but it is accually very informative. Thanks Charles!
I love this explanation Charles, totally right, C major has no shape at all and is harder indeed. Never thought about the same pattern though with just starting on different finger. Just tried them all, remarkable, works every time! Much easier than starting all scales on 1.
So scales are like modes, only with names like E Ring-fingerian, G Indexian, etc (I've probably gotten those wrong lol but you get the idea), and with different names for each hand. Fascinating!
this is why I've always wanted to try playing on a piano with the janko keyboard layout
Great lesson! After so many years, stuff finally makes sense 😅
The A flat major scale, RH, is most comfortable when started "3-2-1-3" rather than "3-4-1". Scales with just one black key (F+ and G+) are most comfortable with finger 3 playing the black key in both hands! (There IS more than just one fingering for any scale!)
Way back in the 80s in college when I had to learn scales I too said it was the hardest, because it's easier to kind of lose track where you are. With f major for example, you've got that b flat black key you have to hit, which gives you a reference point. All white keys makes you have to pay perticular attention of where you are.
After many years of noodling around on a piano, I finally decided to learn all my scales with the proper fingerings. I started on C major and was somewhat discouraged by how hard it is, but seeing how much other people struggle with it is honestly really reassuring.
Great video Charles! I play guitar - and I've always noticed that playing a little piano or keyboards would make my hands hurt a little bit -- I always chalked it up to my guitar-player DNA -- now I see the real reason why -- because I always screw around with D Dorian or A minor
Hi Charles, I heard that when Chopin (yes - that one) was a piano teacher, he always taught the scale of B major because that was the easiest to play and the students arrived faster at a point where they could hear themselves actually succeeding.
I can't remember who the famous classical pianist was who said this (Arthur Rubenstein?), but in an interview he was asked what's the most difficult piece you have ever played and he responded: the C major scale.
Been playing the piano for 5 years. You just changed my life, thank you 🙏
So true. I’ve always preferred doing scales with lots of flats or sharps. I used to tell my piano teacher “They glide better”
And now I know why!
to add on to that, the whole-tone scale (key of C) is (at least what I find to be) an easy scale to play. It also follows a straightforward pattern of all intervals being whole tones instead of having semitones mixed in.
Weird sounding scale though.
It occurs to me watching the distortions of your hand as you do the C, that that could be another good reason to use it for beginners. (which I am by the way, lol) It got me used to sometimes having to wiggle my hand around the keyboard. By the time I'd mastered C my hands were already like "ok yeah it's gonna be a lil uncomfy sometimes."
This is so interesting and useful, Thank you
Wow, that is the best news I've heard in my two months of piano practice! (Yes, two months). Wow--now I don't have to be "afraid" of sharps and flats. Thanks so much! By the way, I'm a Cornell Graduate (class of 1980).
I'm really glad that I had realized the fact about fingering in scales much earlier than late🙏🙏
As an absolute begginer using piano mostly for composing, one thing I really dislike about the black keys is how thin they are. I can't play fast and hit them accurately. I'm sure this can be helped with with proper hand position, but I'm not a pianist.
Before even watching the video, I'll say:
This is true. I started out with C-minor / Eb-major (not because anyone told me, because it felt obvious, I practiced by myself) because it was way WAAAY easier physically and you had the black keys as "targets" that made it easier to visually and by feel identify the scale and where you were.
C-major is still one of those scales that I don't very much enjoy playing :D
Not on Cello. That open C string helps us massively, meaning you can really easily do 2 octaves with no position changes. But, those 'easier' scales are much harder. For example C#/Db is a nightmare, cause it is so easy to default back to C while doing some of the worse shifts.
The same for violin. With keys like C, G, D and A Major it's so much easier because of the use of the open strings and the fingering.
This was very much like the realization I came to with scales and modes on the guitar. The shape is always the same, you just start at different points.
🫨 omg! I was just starting to mess up with the Bflat major scale and I was thinking to myself this is imposible (I was trying to play it with the fingering of C major). With this I realized which ringer to start and easy peasy
Great insight, thank you
4:23 *snap* *snap*
I still think F# major can rival C just because of the different separations (it's way less comfortable than its circle-of-fifths neighbors B and C#, for instance) but yeah
I agree with all of it, but how often do you play scales? I feel that when it comes to playing actual tunes, it doesn't make any difference (as long as you can visualise they notes in the key without hesitation, that is).
Piano scales are like rudiments for drummers - a building block. Plus for classical, you really need the agility and strength that comes only after hours of practising scales
My personal fav is Eb major
Self-taught guy with bad habits here, going back and learning stuff “the right way.”
How do we extrapolate this info to the modes? Would the fingerings for say, Ab Dorian, match the fingerings for F# Major since they’re all the same notes?
Also, how do we go about learning the left hand fingerings?
For the C major scale I just realized the fingers are to be crossed where there are no black keys between white keys: 3 white key cluster for 3 first fingers, followed by a 4 white key cluster for 4 first fingers, and then the cycle repeats.
This is so true, love your content❤
I enjoy playing C scale very much. I much enjoy many scales. B major scale I don’t use I will gravitate to BbMaj, same with EMaj, I will go to EbMaj, I do enjoy playing in AMaj, and AbMaj. I think my fav key to play in is probably C/Am, and probably F/Dm, and G/Em Majors. I seem to play a lot in these keys. I’m still at beginner stages. Been playing for a few years, but have really struggled to learn. I know some but not as much as I wish I did. Doing it all on my own has been so much harder. I never think to play around in like Gb or Db I just play DMaj or GMaj. I know a lot of ppl enjoy those scales. Maybe down the road I’ll learn more and enjoy the harder scales. I do quite enjoy minor scales.. definitely my fav.
Actually a very interesting topic, thank you!
For me, the difficulty isn't playing the black keys, the difficulty comes when you start sharping and flatting the white keys that sharp or flat to another white key. Also, sharps always seem harder to me than flats. The keys I find most difficult to play in are A, E, B, F#, C#, Gb, and Cb. C, G, D, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, and Db I find pretty easy.
This man has been working out🔥🔥🔥
On his scales? 😉
Awesome vid! Watched it with my bro, his name is Finger and he looked hella anxious throughout the whole explaination
Chopin used to teach beginners the B major scale. He was very into what we nowadays call ergonomics (as was Liszt).
Incidentally folks, practice Green Dolphin Street in Eb. Silly perhaps, but C is regarded as the "beginner key" on jams and leaders will sometimes push you. I'd go further - this is an excellent tune to start learning structure so you can play in any key. You'll thank me many years and singers later. I swear I've had it called in every key.
(This can be a bit silly of course, since no singer can do B but can't manage Bb or C. But they might have an arrangement for more than you...)
I started piano at 3 and half years old, and my teacher, a Sainte-Croix nun, told me repeatedly to position my hands as if I was holding an apple. This is how I kept playing the keys until now (I'm 66) and I've been told by pro musicians - I'm not, far from it - that my keyboard touch is remarkable (in a positive way, of course) as it can be soft and melodic. So to see great players do amazing things on the keyboard whilst maintaining a flat hand posture just does not compute in my brain. Anyhow, great channel content.
I had a toy piano as a kid that had the c key play the d sound so when playing a song i always used the Bb key to reposition them
As someone who has played the piano for most of my whole life, yet not ever really delved heavily into music theory and whatnot, I always find videos like this fascinating, because I'm always like "oh, THIS is why the Db scale feels more comfortable than the C major scale." Like, it's something I've intuitively known for years, but seeing it actually explicitly explained is super cool.
Sound logic. Thanks for sharing.
I've been doing it my way since 1999. This got me interested in learning the correct way. It's gonna be hard tho! :D