How to Really Practice Piano Scales (Part 1)

To practise a piano scale with purpose, play the continuous up-and-down cycle in groups of seven notes per 4/4 bar, with six quavers and one crotchet, and move the long crotchet one note later each time so every scale degree gets its turn on a different beat or off-beat.

Video lesson by Jason Zac · Beginner · 8 min

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What this lesson teaches

Most piano players practise scales the same way: up and down, again and again, getting faster, usually starting with C major and working through keys with more black notes before moving on to minors. In India this ascent and descent is called arohan and avarohan. The trouble is that it quickly becomes pure muscle memory.

In this first part of a series on five ways to make scale practice more interesting, Jason Zac shows how to keep the same ascending and descending exercise while building rhythmic control and genuinely knowing each note of the scale. It suits any pianist who already plays a one-octave major scale and wants their practice to feel more musical.

Why the plain scale does not fit a 4/4 bar

Take the G major scale: G A B C D E F# G. Going up an octave is eight notes. If you keep cycling up and down without stopping, coming down F# E D C B A brings you back to G, so one full cycle is 14 notes.

Played as even quavers, 14 notes take seven beats. That does not line up with a bar of four, and most music we play is in 4/4. This mismatch is the starting point for the exercise.

The idea: seven notes over eight quavers

Split the 14-note cycle into two groups of seven:

• Bar 1 (up): G A B C D E F#
• Bar 2 (down): G F# E D C B A

A 4/4 bar holds eight quavers. To fit seven notes into it, make one note a crotchet (two quavers long) and the other six quavers. Count aloud: one and two and three and four and.

Moving the long note step by step

1. First note long: G is a crotchet on beat one, then the rest are quavers. On the way down, the top G is long. Everything lines up neatly.
2. Second note long: A arrives on the and of one and is held. On the way down, F# is the long note.
3. Third note long: B lands on beat two and is held; on the way down, E.
4. Fourth note long: C lands on the and of two; on the way down, D.
5. Fifth note long: D lands on beat three; on the way down, C.
6. Sixth note long: E lands on the and of three. Off-beat long notes feel exciting and jumpy. On the way down, B.
7. Seventh note long: F# lands on beat four; on the way down, A is the last, long note.

Each version sounds almost like a new melody, even though you are only playing the scale.

How to practise it

• Count one and two and three and four and out loud so you always know where the long note falls.
• Keep the cycle going without stopping, repeating each version until it feels settled.
• If you can, hold the pulse in your left hand or bass with some chords while the right hand plays the scale.
• Expect your fingers to feel a little displaced as the long note moves. That is part of the challenge, but never compromise on the sound.
• Once it works in G major, apply the same principle to other scales. It works with other time signatures too, though 4/4 is the most common.

Questions about this lesson

Why does my scale feel off when I loop it in 4/4?

Going up and down one octave and returning to the start is 14 notes, which equals seven beats of quavers, so it never lines up with a four-beat bar. Making one note in each group of seven a crotchet fixes this.

Which note should I make long first?

Start with the first note of each bar, the G going up and the top G coming down, because it lines up most easily. Then move the long note to the second, third and following notes, one at a time.

What should my left hand do during this exercise?

If you can, hold the pulse in the left hand or bass with some chords. This helps you feel where each long note falls in the bar.

Can I use this with scales other than G major?

Yes. The lesson demonstrates G major, but the same principle of seven notes over eight quavers works with any scale, and even with other time signatures.

Practise it

• PendulumExplore accents, subdivisions, scale patterns and chord movement with Western, Hindustani or Carnatic note names.
• Groove MetronomeWork with tempo, accents and polyrhythms instead of a single unchanging click.
• Piano classes at Nathaniel School of MusicLive online or in Bangalore, with a teacher.
• All free music apps40 practice tools for harmony, rhythm, ear training and more.

Related lessons

• How to Practise Piano Scales With Creativity: The Compression-Expansion TechniqueTo practise piano scales creatively, play the first five notes of the scale up and back (1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1), then stretch out to the chord tones 1 3 5 8, playing the scale notes at double speed and the chord notes at single speed. This trains your hand to compress and expand while you keep a steady pulse in the left hand.
• The Daily Piano Scale and Chord Exercise (Up and Down)Play the G major scale up and the G major chord down from the octave, then the scale down and the chord up, fitting the seven scale notes into eight eighth-note slots by lengthening one note while the chord falls on the four downbeats.
• How to Creatively Practise Finger Crossovers for Piano Scales (The Pendulum)The Pendulum is a piano exercise where your thumb anchors on the root of a scale and your fingers swing one, two, three, then four notes above and below it, training thumb-under and finger-over crossovers while teaching you to hear the scale on both sides of the root.
• The Scale Practice Routine Pianists Skip: Parallel, Contrary and Similar MotionA complete piano scale workout plays each scale hands together in parallel motion, then contrary motion, then a parallel-contrary-contrary-parallel combination, and finally similar motion in thirds, using accents to strengthen the weaker fingers.