Whether you’re new to playing the piano or a seasoned professional, you’ve probably heard the age-old advice that you should be practicing scales.
But what is the best way to incorporate scales into your regular practice routine?
Which scales should you be practicing?
And is practicing scales right for everyone?
This blog post explains the ins and outs of piano scale practice and provides some resources for improving your scale technique.
Ready? Let’s get to it!
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Common Questions About Piano Scales
First up, let’s cover a few common questions about piano scales.
What are piano scales?
A scale is simply a series of notes arranged in a specific way.
Some notes of the scale are built on 7 pitches, while others, such as a pentatonic scale, may be built on 5 different pitches.
There are many different types of scales, with the two most commonly discussed being major and minor scales.
But there are scales specific to different types of music, such as jazz or blues.
Specific scales are also commonly found in music of specific time periods or styles, such as the Impressionistic period.
You can even find scales specific to regions or countries around the world.
Scales form the basis of music theory in that they guide the pitches found in a given key signature.
When it comes to music, there are no absolutes, but in general, a piece written in the key of C major will have no sharps or flats.
Likewise, a song written in D major will have two sharps: F and C.
Why practice scales on the piano?
Now that you have a basic understanding of scales let’s discuss the benefits of incorporating them into your practice routine.
Music theory
Of all the technical exercises out there, the humble scale is one of the best for learning foundational music theory.
Playing different scales helps you familiarize yourself with the notes you can expect to find in any given piece of music and across a variety of key signatures.
Familiarity with the various notes in a key signature helps immensely when playing a new piece of music!
In other words, a strong foundation in playing scales will help you become better at sight reading.
It can also help you learn new pieces faster and aid in memorization.
Technique
Practicing scales can help improve finger dexterity and establish good technique at the keyboard.
Scale exercises help develop the correct hand position.
If you spend time playing scales, your muscle memory will start creating optimal fingering strategies when you play other music as well.
Learning the correct fingering for each scale helps establish better fingering habits, especially when playing more difficult music when fingering becomes crucial.
Scales also form the basis for a wide range of different exercises in developing various technical aspects of playing.
Creativity
If you have a solid understanding of key signatures, unleashing your creativity at the keyboard is much easier!
Scales form the backbone of music theory, and if you understand the basics of melody and harmony, you’re well on your way to creating real music!
Understanding chord progression is the next step, but once you have mastered it, you can play anything you hear using a range of different keys.
Are there disadvantages to practicing scales?
Many piano students believe that by simply practicing scales, they will be able to play more difficult music.
Unfortunately, this isn’t true.
Regularly practicing scales can help you become better at sight reading.
It can also help with improving your basic understanding of music theory.
But practicing scales won’t suddenly give you the ability to play the last movement of the Moonlight Sonata.
Unfortunately, very little Western classical music repertoire contains any actual scales.
Learning an instrument takes years of careful study and is a lot of work.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to mastery.
Poor technique in practicing scales can also cause physical discomfort and injury.
It’s always important to pay attention to your body, and if you’re experiencing pain, take a break and get help from a professional.
How long should you spend practicing piano scales?
Incorporating scales as part of your daily warm-up is a good idea.
You can choose a scale based on the music you plan to play that day.
For example, if you’re working on Bach’s prelude in G major, you may warm up with a G major scale.
Or you might follow the circle of fifths to learn each of the major and minor scales.
Spending 5-10 minutes warming up on scales before playing your other music is a reasonable amount of time.
5 Tips for the Best Ways to Practice Piano Scales
1. Use a Metronome
The first tip is my favorite way to practice piano scales.
This method can be helpful for increasing your finger speed because once you’ve mastered the scale at a particular metronome marking, you can gradually increase it.
Start by setting your metronome at 60 bpm.
You’ll initially only play one octave of the scale, and each pitch of that octave will be a quarter note.
Once you’ve mastered one octave, it’s time to move to two.
Keep the metronome at 60 bpm, but you’ll now be playing 8th notes up and down two octaves.
Once you’ve mastered playing two octaves, move to three octaves by making each pitch part of a triplet.
Four octaves mean 16th notes.
Work on gradually increasing the metronome markings for each major and minor scale until you have them completely mastered!
2. Play with Emotion
Piano practice should never be boring, mindless, or mechanical.
Music transcends language because it’s communication without words.
It’s all about conveying emotion.
Scales are a fantastic medium for practicing conveying emotion!
Next time you work on scales, practice playing a C major scale with as much joy as possible.
Work on expressing a deep sense of longing with a G harmonic minor scale.
When you sit down to practice, choose whatever emotion takes over for you and play a scale that matches that emotion.
You can take this one up a notch by having someone listen in and then guess what emotion you’re trying to convey.
It’s a fun way to improve your musical expression skills!
3. Quiz Yourself
Think you have all the major and minor scales memorized?
Then, it’s time to quiz yourself!
Write out the names of all the scales you’ve mastered and assign each one a number.
Then, use a random number generator app to select a scale.
Play the scale without music in front of you to see whether you’ve truly mastered all your scale exercises!
4. Jazz Scales
As I mentioned, major and minor scales are the tip of the musical iceberg.
Jazz has its own set of scales, which give this musical genre its unique sound.
If you have aspirations to play jazz, check out Piano with Jonny as he has several videos and courses devoted to the topic.
5. Improvisation
Once you’ve mastered scales, it’s time for improv fun!
You can use scales as the basis for improvising your own songs.
Start with very basic chords in the left hand.
You can even use a two-note chord to start.
Chords built on the major scale’s 1st, 4th, and 5th pitches are often the most common.
Come up with your own melody and see what you can compose!
Keep playing around with improvisation until you feel more comfortable moving between melodic lines and harmonies.
Check out this video for ideas on what to do with your left hand!
I love the Become a Piano Superhuman YouTube channel because he gives such great, approachable advice on playing the piano and this video is right in line with his other fantastic content.
Other Frequently Asked Questions About Piano Scales
Can you over-practice scales?
Yes. Scales aren’t magic.
You won’t suddenly be able to play a Rachmaninoff piano concerto once you’ve mastered all the basic major and minor scales.
And it’s definitely possible to cause harm to your hands and arms by playing with too much tension.
As with any pursuit worth mastering, it’s always best to have a clear goal and a plan for reaching it.
Mindlessly playing scales on repeat will not improve your keyboard skills unless you are purposeful about how you practice them.
Is playing piano scales a good warm-up exercise?
Starting your practice session with a scale exercise can be a great way to warm up.
Again, it’s always best to have some type of goal whenever you play something, even if it’s only while warming up.
Should you practice playing scales on piano every day?
Although playing scales has benefits, it’s important to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve.
Scales can be a great way to improve some of the more technical aspects of playing.
They are also one of the best ways to work on musical expression.
Be clear about what you want to accomplish, and then get to work!
What are the best resources for learning to play piano scales?
This website has excellent content on all the different types of scales you can play on piano.
From jazz to pentatonic to blues and everything in between, you’ll find all the information you need to get started with scales on the site.
If you’re interested in classical piano, Dr. Josh Wright covers different scale and chord exercises in his ProPractice course.
I highly recommend his course because he is a fantastic teacher, and the course contains so many valuable insights into playing a huge range of classical repertoire.
You can check out my previous post reviewing the course by clicking here.
Final Thoughts
I hope this post has given you valuable insight and resources into playing scales on the piano.
Learning scales early in your piano career helps ensure a solid technique and music theory foundation.
It’s also incredibly helpful if you have any interest in jazz or improvisation.
If you’re looking for more piano-inspired content, check out my previous posts!
- Buying Guide: 5 Best Piano Keyboards for Beginner Kids
- Simple Tips to Have More Fun Playing Piano This Year
- Learn These 4 Chords to Play (Almost!) Any Song Ever Written
- 25 Tips for How to Stay Focused When Practicing the Piano
- Best Keyboard Piano for Adult Beginners
- 8 Best Books for Adult Beginners to Learn Piano
- 13 Easy Classical Piano Pieces for Adult Beginners
- The 30 Most Famous Classical Piano Pieces of All Time
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