Piano Tips for Beginning with C Major Scale!

C major scale is termed to be one of the most common key signatures. Most of the western music is based on this scale and is the simplest scale with all the white keys included. This scale as the name says is based on C while its parallel minor is C minor and relative minor is A minor. There are no black keys involved in the formation of C Major scale and thus according to some musicians, playing this scale doesn’t really suit natural formation and position of human hands.

Pattern of the C Major Scale:

C Major Scale has the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A and B. So with this formation, memorizing and practicing piano scales and arpeggios in the key of C is really simple.

C – Tonic of C major scale
D – Supertonic of C major scale
E – Median of C major scale
F – Subdominant of C major scale
G – Dominant of C major scale
A – Submediant of C major scale
B – Leading tone of C major scale
C – Octave of C major scale

Why Beginners should learn the C Major Scale First?

As it is the simplest key with no flats and sharps and its formation has only white keys, many of the piano beginners are encouraged to begin learning C Major Scale first. Most of the pieces they will be learning in the beginning would be simple ones and thus would be in the key of C. No confusion of black keys and thus this scale is easy to remember.

Guides to play C Major Scale with both hands:

Before you begin to learn how to play C major scale with both hands, you need to identify correct numbers and focus on improving fingering on piano. Numbers for your fingers on piano would be like:

1^st – thumb
2^nd – index finger
3^rd – middle finger
4^th – ring finger and
5^th – pinky finger.

This numbering is for both hands. Beginning to play with both hands would be difficult in start as you don’t have the concept and practice of co-ordination but you will be able to overcome this difficulty with varied exercises and practices. The best way to deal with this task is to dedicate long practice sessions for playing scales using both hands in groups of overlapping notes.

The main attraction with learning C major scale in beginning is that it has a formation that gives your left hand a mirror image of your right hand. When you look at the pattern of this scale in terms of numbering of fingers, it looks like:

One Octave C Scale: C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C

Right hand: 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5
Left hand: 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1

Similarly, Two Octave C Scale: C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C

Right hand: 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5
Left hand: 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 2 1

Image Source: comptonpianostudio.com

Begin by placing both of your thumbs on the tonic which in this case is
Next use second finger of your right hand and fourth finger of your left hand simultaneously to play
Now match middle finger (3^rd one) of both the hands to play
For middle of the scale put your right hand thumb and 2^nd finger of your left hand to play F.
Similar pairing for dominant G would be used with the only difference that you will use right hand 2^nd finger and left hand 1^st
Then match middle finger of both the hands to play
For B, your 4^th and 2^nd finger will match again as they did for D but with a difference that it will be now 2^nd finger of left hand and 4^th finger of right hand.
Once again, thumbs of both the hands would be on the tonic C. In the similar manner you can continue playing this scale in ascending order for as many times as needed.

Some tips:

Before beginning to learn to play major C scale with both hands, it is important that you learn to play the scale with each hand separately. Practice fingering of this scale with each hand and focus on making your performance smooth. Once you gain hands on this scale with hands separately, you should now work on both hands together.
Learning to play one scale lays the foundation for other scales. When you learn to play major C with both hands, you can use similar fingering practice for all the other scales too. Although there will be some differentiation in placement of thumb and fingers but it makes playing scales much easier.

Easy songs for practicing C Major Scale:

Whenever you are beginning to learn new scales or techniques, it is recommended that you begin practicing with easy melodies and songs. For C major scale, you will be using white keys only and for those who are beginning to learn; here we are sharing some simple melodies that are ideal for children and adults to practice piano C major scale.

The first one is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the famous nursery rhyme written by Jane Taylor back in 1806. This song based in C major scale is a great choice for practicing. It goes like:

Twinkle twinkle little star –C C G G A A G
How I wonder what you are – F F E E D D C
Up above the world so high – G G F F E E D
Like a diamond in the sky – G G F F E E D
Twinkle twinkle little star – C C G G A A G
How I wonder what you are – F F E E D D C

Another popular song in same scale is London Bridge. It goes like:

London Bridge is falling down – G A G F E F G
Falling down, falling down – D E F E F G
London Bridge is falling down – G A G F E F G
My fair lady – D G E C
Build it up with iron bars – G A G F E F G
Iron bars, iron bars – D E F E F G
Build it up with iron bars – G A G F E F G
My fair lady – D G E C

Conclusion:

If you want to know how to learn piano scale, the key to it is practice and repetition. Practicing over and over again would enable you to become good at playing scales. You can learn different simple melodies as there are many that can be played in C major scale. Once you gain the momentum, make variations and these variations would work as technical exercises that would improve your piano playing skills. Not only practice this scale on keyboard but as you listen to piano music try to identify keys and scales.