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The Piano Scale
Pentatonic, Chromatic, Blues, Whole Tone
and 12 Tone Scale!
Learn about piano scale patterns, and how to easily find them on the piano keyboard. Blues scale, pentatonic scale and more! No note reading required!
Non-Diatonic Piano Scales:
- The Pentatonic Scale :
The pentatonic scale-pattern has no ½ steps and consists of five notes. It is easy to use since this mode can easily be found on the black keys. Many cultures throughout the world use pentatonic patterns in their traditional music.
- The Chromatic Scale:
The name is from Greek [Chroma] which means "color". This refers to the chromatic changes of a note- a 1/2 step up or down etc, which was/is often used for embellishments or decoration of a melody- that's what the word "color" stands for! The scale consists only of ½ steps, and gives you no sense of tonality, because the notes are exactly evenly apart, so it doesn't really matter from what note you start or end the chromatic scale.
- The Whole Tone Scale:
You guessed it- it consists of only whole tones/steps! It was used by Debussy for ex. in “La Mer” for a beautiful flowing sound in the style of "Impressionism". Again- since the notes are constantly a whole step or tone apart there is no sense of center or tonality, which gives it a freer more open sound than major and minor.
- The Blues Scale:
The blues scale pattern consists of 6 different pitches, and uses both ½, whole and 1 ½ steps. It is a modification of the original blues scale to at least try to imitate the "blue" notes, or "bent" pitches of the blues but still be able to play it on for example the piano.
- The Twelve-Tone Series:
This was introduced by Arnold Schoenberg in the early 20th century as a way to break away from the traditional sounds of major, minor and modal patterns. A way to explore the borders of tonality- and a-tonality; by avoiding any association with tonality at all! Twelve tone music is also called serial music, since it is made up of an organized row, or series, of the 12 chromatic tones. This series has then to be repeated in specific ways. All association with major and minor is in this way avoided, for a more "dissonant" sound color.
Play the numbers in any order you like. But a number can not be repeated until all 12 have been played! This is your 12 tone series. Now play it backwards, that is called retrograde. (There is a whole philosophy behind this, what I showed you is just a teeny, weeny little beginner bit!)
Remember- Any piano scale pattern can start from whatever note you want! You just need to make sure to follow the exact pattern of whole and half steps, or more, for that particular mode- and there it is in a new key- transposed!
If you prefer notes-
here are your free printable piano music scales in major and minor!
Return from The PianoScale : Part 2 to Piano Scales
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