From theory — Western theory · Scales. Play major and natural minor, with fingering.

Scales lab

Scales & modes: Major scale · How chords are built · Minor scale · Scales lab · Modes · Modes lab · Beyond the major scale · Beyond the major scale lab · Circle of fifths

Play a scale

Pick a root, a type, and a hand, then press Play the scale. Every scale key lights up with its finger number, and the scale plays one note per beat at the metronome's tempo — set the BPM in the bar at the bottom. You can also click any key to hear it.

Want the app to listen and check what you play — one note or hands together? That play-along practice lives on the Training routines page, where you can connect a MIDI keyboard or your acoustic piano’s mic.

Recommended major order: learn C first, then G → D → A → E (following the circle of fifths — one new sharp each time; they all share the same fingering), then F, and save the black-key scales (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb/F#) for last.

Recommended natural-minor order: start with A minor (the relative minor of C — all white keys), then E → D → G → C minor (same fingering as the majors above), leaving the black-key minors (F#, C#, G#, Eb, Bb) for last. Find any minor by taking the 6th note of a major you know, or by flattening a major's 3rd, 6th & 7th.

Roughly one new scale per week. Sources: Hoffman Academy · Dennis Frayne (scale sequence).

Which hand & coordination: the notes are the same for both hands, but the fingering differs — with Both hands selected the keyboard shows the left hand (blue) in the low octave and the right hand (gold) in the high octave, one empty octave apart, so you can read each register on its own. Practice in this order: right hand alone → left hand alone → hands together, slowly. The tricky moment is the thumb-tuck: going up, the right thumb (1) passes under after finger 3; the left hand crosses finger 3 over the thumb. Easiest first coordination: play contrary motion — both hands start on the same note and move apart, using the same finger numbers at the same time.
Two fingering rules that always hold here:
  • Thumb stays off the black keys. During a thumb-tuck, the thumb (1) always lands on a white key — true for every scale on this page.
  • Where each hand starts. On a white-key root the scale usually begins with finger 1 (right hand) or 5 (left hand); on a black-key root it usually begins with 2 or 3 (a couple of left-hand starts use 4). Try it: switch the root above and watch the first finger change.