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The Four Most Important Piano Scales in Learning to Play the Piano
There are many piano music scales overall, such as major, minor, pentatonic and several dozen others, but there are four piano scales that are extremely important for anybody learning to play the piano. You're about to find out exactly what those scales are and the easiest way to play them on a piano.
First off, if you're going to learn piano scales, you should understand the meaning of "half steps" and "whole steps." A half step is the distance from one music note to the next. For example, the distance between notes D and E is a half step. A whole step is two half steps, for example if your D note is on your sheet music between the lines, then a full step will be the next note that is in between the lines and that note would be an F. So the distance from D to F is a whole step. In this article about learning how to play piano scales, I'm going to refer to half steps with an H and whole steps with a W.
The first piano scales you should learn are called "major scales" and they are the most common type of scales you will encounter in Western music. To play a major scale, you begin on the root note and play a formula of W-W-H-W-W-W-H. Using that method you can learn how to find the major scale of any key.
The next sets of scales to know about are called "natural minor scales" and they are also very common in music. Same as the major scales, except you just need to play a different pattern. To play a natural minor scale, you begin with the root note and play the following formula: W-H-W-W-H-W-W. Using that method, you'll learn that the notes of the C natural minor scale are C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C and the notes for the F natural minor scale are F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-Eb-F.
The third important set of piano scales you need to learn is called the "melodic minor scales". For playing a melodic minor scale, you start with the root note just as you did the others and play this formula: W-H-W-W-W-W-H. By doing this, you'll discover that the notes of the C melodic minor scale are C-D-Eb-F-G-A-B-C and the notes that make up the F melodic minor scale are F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-E-F.
The last, but certainly not least, set of piano scales that any aspiring piano player should learn is known as the "harmonic minor scale." The only difference between this set of scales and the melodic minor scale I just discussed is the sixth note. For this harmonic minor scale, instead of going up one whole step from the fifth note, you go up one and a half whole steps (which equals three half steps). The musical notes that make up the C harmonic minor scale are C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C and the F harmonic minor scale is notes F-G-Ab-Bb-C-Db-E-F.
These four piano scales are absolutely the most vital scales a piano player needs to know. You should decide on a key and learn these four scales prior to advancing to the next key. It won't be long after that and you will be able to play all of the piano scales easily. There are some really great piano courses available where you can learn how to play piano by yourself, right in your own home and in a very short amount of time and for a lot less money than traditional piano lessons. Don't be afraid to try to teach yourself piano, it may be easier than you think.
About the Author
The author, Todd Bridges, is a life-long music fan and piano lover. See his best recommendations for the easiest courses on learning to play the piano. His website dedicated to all things piano is at http://www.perfect-piano.com.
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With SI prefixes, do British people use the long scale or short scale?
It's nothing to do with SI. British people use short scale numbers these days, like america. So a billion is 1,000,000,000. In the 60s, we considered a billion to be 1,000,000,000,000 (a million million) and 1,000,000,000 to be a milliard. We don't do that now.
SI is a consistent system - it never changes from one country to another and has no bearing on the names million or billion.