A scale goes from one key to the key that is an octave above that key. It consists of eight tones. There are different types of scales. Some of them are major scales and some of them are minor scales. Major scales have been described as sounding happy, while minor scales are said to sound sad or gloomy.

You will develop memory in the muscles of your hands as you spend time playing scales during your practice.  You will find it much easier to get your fingers to move to the particular notes in the scale that you are working on after you have spent some time practicing them.  As you glance over a sheet of music or hear a melody in the air your fingers will be naturally gravitating to the correct keys.

Anytime you mention scales you will most certainly also mention keys.  When a pianist hears the word keys, they think of either the ivory or wood keys on the keyboard or quite possibly the keys that a melody or scale is being played in.

You may hear a singer who is about to give their big performance lean over to the piano player and whisper “The key of C please”.  The singer is telling the piano player where he or she wants the pianist to being on the keyboard.  The keyboardist will know which keys to begin with as well as the chords that will need to be played to accompany the singer.  Playing in the correct key is a vital part of any good musical piece.

When you are learning scales, you can do it without learning all the key signatures. (Key signatures are the written notation of the keys, such as the key of C or the key of G.) You can begin by playing a C scale. A major C scale is all done on the white keys. Begin with your right hand in the Home Keys position. Remember that your fingers are numbered 1-5, with the thumb being 1.

Play 1-2-3 as usual. This is C-D-E on the keyboard. Then, instead of playing the next note with your ring finger, slip your thumb under the fingers and play F with your thumb. Reposition your hand so that your thumb is 1 on F and your pinkie is 5 on the C above middle C. Then, continue to play up the scale. So, you are playing 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-5, or C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. You have just played your first scale. Practice it a few times.

If you would like to learn to play the C scale using your left hand, begin by placing your little finger directly on the C that is below the middle C.  Place your other fingers in order from one to five traveling up the keyboard.  Push the keys in order, 5-4-3-2-1.  As you get to one, pull your middle finger over your pointer finger and put it on the next available key.  Begin again by playing 3-2-1 from that position on the keyboard.  When you are finished you have played C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C or 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1.

Once you have taken some time to practice playing the C scale with each hand separately, try to combine them and play them at the same time.  Hit the C below the middle C key with your left pinkie and the middle C with your thumb on your left hand.  Travel up the scale using both hands.  You may find it a bit challenging since you will have to maneuver the middle finger on your left hand over top while you are moving your thumb on the right hand underneath and at different times as well.  You will find that as you practice the function becomes much more doable.

After you have mastered this scale you will find that it is much easier to grasp the other major scales.  Be sure to concentrate on the order of the half steps and the whole steps that occur in a major scale.  If you are following the right order up the major scale you will be playing like this:  starting note-step-step-half step-step-step-step-half step.  Keep in mind as you follow these steps that there are no black keys found in between the B and C and the E and F so they are considered to be half steps.

You can play a scale anywhere on the piano. Just pick a note to start on. It does not matter whether it is a white key or a black key. Use the given sequence of steps and half steps to go from there up an eight note scale. You can even start from the left of the keyboard and continue the scale all the way to the right. With a little practice, you will be proficient at playing major scales.