Learning scales on the piano is an exercise most students will encounter. Knowing and playing scales is great for developing piano technique, as well as understanding and becoming familiar with key signatures and theory. Also, many piano pieces have passages that use sections of scales, especially in classical works, so it is helpful to become comfortable with playing scales.
There are twelve major scales possible. The good news is that they all follow the same formula. Once you’ve become familiar with this formula you can easily figure out each of the major scales – or their keys, at least, since the scales each have their own proper fingering, but that is for another discussion.
The major scale formula is made up of whole steps and half steps, so before we launch into it, let’s define a whole step and half step.
First, the keyboard is comprised of white and black keys that are laid out in an alternating pattern, usually white key to black key, with the exception of two areas that instead have two white keys right next to each other (B to C, and E to F).
A whole step is when you go from one key to another while skipping one key in between. For instance, C to D on the piano is a whole step. You are going from one white key to the next white key but skipping the black key in between. Another example of a whole step is from E to F-sharp. In this case, you are going from a white key to a black key and skipping a white key (F-natural) in between. So, a whole step always skips one key in between.
A half step means you are playing one key to the very next, so it could be from a white key to black key, such as with C to C-sharp. Or it could be a white key to a white key, such as with B to C.
Now for the major scale formula. It is: (1) whole step, (2) whole step, (3) half step, then (4) whole step, (5) whole step, (6) whole step, (7) half step.
In other words, 2 whole steps followed by a half step, and then 3 whole steps followed by a half step. There are a total of 7 steps (involving 8 keys) in a one-octave major scale.
This pattern is naturally laid out in the C-major scale (which involves all the white keys between two C’s on the piano).
You can apply this pattern when trying to figure out the other major scales.
For instance, let’s say you want to know the notes of a B-major scale. You would begin on B, then go up: whole step (to C-sharp), whole step (D-sharp), half step (E), whole step (F-sharp), whole step (G-sharp), whole step (A-sharp), half step (B). With this exercise, we’ve discovered there are 5 sharps in the B-major scale.
Once you’ve learned the formula for a major scale, you can figure out the keys to any major key signature!