Scales: Easy as 1 - 2 - 3

by Kathie Younker

Scales have suddenly become easier for me to teach because I have come across an easy way to get the fingering across to my students. Since I had learned my scales from a book and never had a teacher who taught me “tricks,” I always dreaded teaching the scales with the more unusual fingerings, until now. Now I group them into four simple fingering groups. While there is the occasional exception (for example, F major and minor in the right hand are exceptions to the 123, 1234 fingering pattern), if I teach the exception along with the rule, all goes well.

Fully half of the keys belong to Group 1 (below), while all three of the other groups are somehow related to the easiest fingering pattern, the “black key rule”, which is also explained below. A student can learn all of the major, natural minor and harmonic minor scales while only needing to learn one exception to the fingering rules (F) and one scale that appears in two different fingering groups (g# minor). The two exceptions in the melodic scales that occur in group 4 (below) are then easily applied, because the basic patterns are already learned.

GROUP 1: Left hand: 54321,321; Right hand: 123,1234.

There is ONE exception: F (Major and minor) R.H. uses 1234,123.

Keys:
Major: C,D,E,F,G,A
minor: c,d,e,f,g,a

GROUP 2: ‘Black key rule’: fingers 2 and 3 (3 and 2) go on the paired black keys, and fingers 234 (432) go on the three black keys. The thumb then goes on the appropriate white key between the black keys.

Even if a particular key doesn’t contain all of the black keys (for example, b minor), this fingering can be applied.

Keys:
Major: B, F#(Gb), C#(Db)
minor: b, bb, eb
g# natural

GROUP 3: Right hand uses the ‘black key rule;’ Left hand uses 321,4321

Keys:

Major: Bb, Eb, Ab
minor: g# harmonic, g# melodic
(G# melodic minor going down uses the ‘black key rule’ as in GROUP 2 above.)

GROUP 4: Left hand uses ‘black key rule;’ Right hand.: 34,123,12

Keys:

minor: c# and f#
Exceptions: R.H. c# and f# melodic minor going up use the ‘black key rule’ (but going down they go back to GROUP 4 fingering.)