Understanding Scales and Chords
If you’re a piano or keyboard player and are having trouble improvising, you’re not alone. Many musicians who learn via traditional methods can regurgitate notation, but haven’t learned how to develop their own voice on the instrument. This article will help you start the process of improvising so you can jam with other musicians and create your own music. Knowing how to play begins with the knowledge of major and minor scales and the chords that they produce.
Formula for Improvising
3 Tips to Get You Started:
1) Know Your White Keys
The best example we have of the major and minor scales on the piano are the C Major and A minor scales because they use only the white keys. This way, the black keys represent the notes not in the scale and the white keys all work in context. With your left hand, play a C or an octave, whatever you’re comfortable with. Now play only white keys in your right hand and create some simple melodies. You are playing in the key of C Major and it should sound upbeat and happy. Now switch your left hand to an A or an octave and play the exact same melodies in the right. You are now playing in the key of A minor, which should sound melancholy and sad. Hear the difference in sound? By changing your left hand, your right hand melodies have a whole different vibe. Experiment by going back and forth between C and A in the left hand, while playing the white keys in the right.
2) Know Your Formula
Did you know there is one formula for the major/minor scale? The piano is an uneven landscape, so the major or minor scales look different in each of the 12 keys, but the underlying formula is the same. When learning piano, you are taught how each scale is different, rather than how the formula is the same; it simply looks different across the black and white keys. Guitar players need only slide up or down on the neck and the same pattern works in every key. With piano, you must concentrate on the numbers to notice the formula.
The best examples of this occur in the C Major and A minor scales, which use only the white keys. Looking at the diagrams to your left, in C Major, you play the white keys up from C. You’ll play the seven notes of the major scale, while skipping the five notes that are not in the major scale (black). Conversely, in A minor, you play the white keys up from A—the seven notes of the minor scale, while skipping the five notes that are not in the minor scale (black). The main difference between the two is that a major scale uses a major 3-6-7, while the minor scale uses a minor 3-6-7. This formula plays out in every key, no matter how the shape changes. Uniquely in C Major and A minor, the formula lays out so that the black keys represent the notes we skip in a major or minor scale. When you play the notes in a scale, be conscious of what numbers you are playing rather than the names of the notes. This will help you play better in every key as the numbers and their order never change.
3) Know Your Basic Chords
Chords are the basic building blocks of songs and they occur and sound the way they do because of the scale formula. Running a basic triad up any major scale will produce a series of chords, which also lay out according to formula. To hear this, play a basic C Major chord with your right hand. Now move that triad up the white keys one note at a time. The next chords after C Major will be D minor, E minor, F Major, G Major, A minor, and B diminished, before arriving back at C Major. Accordingly, in any major key, your 1, 4, and 5 chords will always be major and your 2, 3 and 6 chords will always be minor. This formula is the same in every key. Now move to A minor and do the same thing. You’ll see the same chords you just played in a different order as you go up the scale. Starting on A minor, your next chord is B diminished, followed by C Major, D minor, E minor, F Major, and G Major before arriving back at A minor. Since every minor key shares the exact same notes and chords as a corresponding major key (a concept called the relative minor) we get two-for-one knowledge when we learn the chords in any key.
As you practice chords in all of the 12 keys, focus on the formula and the numbers so you can connect everything by commonalities, rather than differences. As you get the scale and chord formulas down, you’ll become a better improvisor.
I am not a pianist or keyboardist in any sense of the words. I play guitar, violin, viola, cello, and violin bass; I cannot play a keyboard past “chopsticks” so thanks anyhow……………….
Shalom,
Keith R. Dunnington
Hi Keith,
I started improvising when I was about 11. My dad was teaching me guitar, and my cousin Sally was teaching me Heart and Soul on the piano. I put two and two together and realized that chords could also be played on the piano. After the notes on the keyboard, I taught little kids to play “every other note” while singing CEG. I taught piano several (many?) years ago, and I taught both notation and improvisation.
What is a “minor 3-6-7” ?
Maxwell – I think the author meant to say that the (natural) minor scale is like the major scale in structure except that the 3rd, 6th, and 7th notes are flatted. So C major = {C, D, E, F, G, A, B} whereas C minor = {C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb}. Notice that the 3rd, 6th, and 7th notes are different. [It just happens that A natural minor (called the relative minor of C) has the exact same notes as in C major but in starts and ends in a different offset].
Not to scare you off, but A minor is called the Aeolian mode of C (Starting on the different notes have their own “mode” name). I think the author’s approach is good for getting the sounds in your ear. However, you’ll eventually want to know the structure of these and other scales without having to relate it to another one. For example, a G altered scale in a similar manner shares the same notes as an Ab Melodic Minor scale, but eventually it’s easier to see it as a G major scale with G (the root), b9, #9, 3, b5, #5, b7} being changed.
Thanks to Jim K. The 3,6,7 stuff came out of left field in the article, and doesn’t seem to correspond to the pictures. The rest of the article is v basic, I learned all this as a kid but I find now that improvising is about creating pleasing exceptions and embroidering on these basics
I found this article and your reply really helpful. I am am adult amateur musician who struggles with music theory and sight reading, but loves to play by ear. I am quite good at pitching in and playing along, but never understood how I did it and still do not. However I am pleased to have it simply put like this. My problem is playing the right rhythm when sight reading written notation. I notice this when playing with others. Thank you so much.