Hey folks!

Today is a short and sweet video on how to play A natural minor scale.  It’s nice and simple, and for now we’re working on just one octave, hands separate – what’s REALLY important is that you start getting acquainted with all the different key signatures, both major and minor, in order to understand your pieces better.

Enjoy!

A natural minor scale

Sheet music for A natural minor scale

And if you haven’t seen the previous video talking about major and minor keys, be sure to check it out below!

Other beginner scales

Below is a list of the other beginner scales we’ve made videos for so far – Everything on this list is 1 octave, and hands separate. For more scales, please visit the “Categories” page.

C major scale (1 octave)

F major scale (1 octave)

A harmonic minor scale (1 octave)

D major scale (1 octave)

D natural and harmonic minor scale (1 octave)

A major scale (1 octave)

E major scale (1 octave)

Why scales?

Scales are often thought of as tedious and dry, but they’re extremely useful to know and understand as a musician. Knowing scales – and their individual flavors of sharps or flats – allows you to instantly understand key signatures (the sharps/flats that hover at the beginning of a line of music).

Most songs are based on a “key”. For example, if we say a song is in the “Key of C major”, what we’re saying is that it’s based off C major scale, and therefore has no sharps or flats (unless otherwise indicated in the music).

So in the case of A natural minor scale, if you see a piece that has no sharps or flats in the key signature, you it’s either in C major – OR A minor. Every major scale has a minor counterpart.

xo,
Allysia

 

1 Comment

  1. Land of the Silver Birch - Beginner Piano Tutorial on February 22, 2016 at 9:12 am

    […] the video on A minor scale, and how to tell major and minor keys apart, which you might find […]