Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman, and in this lesson we're going to work on playing
two octave scales and arpeggios in three different major keys.
Let's come to the piano to get started.
First, a quick review of our ladders.
We've got the ladder of fifths, which you can see here, which gives us sharps.
Every time we go up a fifth on the ladder, we're adding sharps to our scale.
We also have the ladder of fourths
on which we are adding flats.
What does that mean on the piano?
Well on the ladder of fifths which we'll be using today,
remember we start with C major no sharps or flats,
then when we travel up a fifth, one, two, three, four, five, if we wanted to make G our starting note.
Then we need one sharp to make it sound correct. So there's the key of G major.
Every time we go up a fifth, one, two, three, four, five, now if D is our starting note,
then we need two sharps. Then up a fifth again.
When we get to A, we'll need three sharps.
That's the law of the ladder of fifths. So today we're going to review G major, D major, and A major.
With one, two, and three sharps respectively.
Let's start with G major.
Now to practice our scales today, I'd like to use clusters.
In other words, we're going to think in the groups of three and four.
Remember, scale fingering goes in groups alternating between three and four notes,
and then our pinky is kind of the loner. That finger 5 will play either the top note for our right hand, or the bottom note for the left hand.
The rest of it is all groups of three and four. Let's try this together. Use your right hand.
Play group of one, two, three, starting on G, then one, two, three, four, then we've got that F-sharp on top, then a group of three again.
Basically the same group we had before but now up an octave. Another group of four,
then play finger 5 on top. That brings us home to our top G, then we'll come down with a group of four,
down with a group of three, down with a group of four, down with a group of three.
Now let's try the regular scale.
Now you try.
Good. Pause the video if you need more time to practice that. Otherwise, let's go on to the left hand.
Finger 5 is on G,
and let's practice our clusters. So we'll start with just finger 5 on low G, then do a group of four,
then do a group of three,
then another group of four,
then a group of three.
You come back down for a group four,
then a group of three,
then a group of four.
Then we finish, finish with finger 5.
Good, and then played normally we get 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 2 1, and then back.
Group of four, group of three, group of four, finish with five.
Good, now pause the video and practice your left hand two octave G major scale.
If you want to also review your right hand two octave G major scale as well,
work on left hand or right hand, or both, then press play to go on.
Good, now let's review the arpeggios.
We'll do a two octave arpeggio. Remember, an arpeggio is just taking the G major triad, putting it up an octave, then adding an extra G on top
one note at a time. 1 2 3 1 2 3 5 on top, 3 2 1 3 2 1
The left hand goes 5 4 2 1 4 2 1 2 4 1 2 4 5 Pause the video, practice both on your own, then press play to go on.
Now, pop quiz: what is the next key with two sharps?
We're going up a fifth on the ladder of fifth. What key would that bring us to?
If you said D major, you're correct. D major has two sharps.
So let's go ahead and start here. We'll practice our groups. Let's do the right hand first. Group of three, try this with me, group of four,
group of three
group of four, then finger 5 plays D on top.
Now group of four, group of three, group of four, group of three.
You can always pause the video if you need more time to practice those groups,
then we'll try it normal.
As you play in your mind, think three, four, three, four. If you think of those groups in your imagination as you play,
and as you're finishing one group, try to not just picture the next note. Picture that entire next group as you're shifting to the next group.
If you can already see all of those notes from the group in your imagination, your fingers will naturally find that much more easily.
Pause the video to work on your right hand D major scale, then press play to go on.
Now let's try the left hand. Start with the finger 5 on low D,
then try 4 3 2 1, a group of four,
then a group of three,
then a group of four,
then a group of three.
Come back to a group of four, a group of three, a group of four, and then finger 5 finishes it off.
Always in your mind be thinking of these groups. So as I play I think four, then three, then four, then three.
Three, then four, three, then four.
Pause the video, work on the left hand D major two octave scale, then press play to go on.
Now let's try our arpeggios.
Can you point to the three notes that build the D major chord?
You should be pointing here, here, and here. There's our D major chord, and we use fingers 1 2 3 1 2 3 5, 3 2 1 3 2 1
Now you try.
Now we usually use 5 then 4 when we play an arpeggio with the left hand,
but because we have this sharp the 4 will be too big of a reach. So we're going to use finger 3 instead 5 3 2 1 3 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 5
five three two one three two one two three one two three five now pause the video and
Now pause the video and work on this new fingering for an arpeggio that might be new to you maybe not.
Okay, but we'll use finger 3 on the F-sharp.
Pause and go ahead and work on the left hand. If you need some extra work on the right hand you can do that too.
Pause to do that, and then press play to go on.
Another pop quiz moment.
Can you tell me the major key that has three sharps.
If you said A major, you're correct.
If you get stuck on sharps, remember just climb up your ladder. C is zero, G is one sharp, D is two sharps
A is three sharps. Always just going up fifths, so,
here in A major we'll need three sharps.
Those are the keys that build the A major scale, so let's do a group of three.
Try this with me, then a group of four, two white two black,
then a group of three
then a group of four,
and finger 5 plays the top key,
then a group of four,
group of three.
Group of four,
group of three.
As you practice your scales in these groups, try and memorize the feel and kind of the patterns that you see. Oh look, there's two black, two white.
You notice things like that. You'll be able to play the scales so much more confidently,
and you kind of get to know the feel of each scale.
Okay, now when you put it all together you get:
Pause the video and work on your A major two octave scale, then press play to go on.
As you're practicing your scales, your goal should always be perfect smoothness and evenness.
Try not to let the notes sound jagged like this.
Hear out somewhere louder and some are softer? Try to make them smooth and even.
Okay, now let's work on our left hand.
Finger 5 plays A, then a group of four, then a group of three.
Then a group of four,
then a group of three.
Come back with a group of three, then a group of four,
then a group of three, then a group of four, then finish with finger 5.
You put it all together. Finger 4, then a 3, then a 4, then a 3.
3 4 3 4
Pause the video. Now work on your left hand A major scale, then press play to go on.
Okay, it's time for A major arpeggios.
Point to the three keys that make an A major triad.
If you pointed to A, C-sharp, and E, you are correct.
Those three keys make an A major triad, so we'll go 1 2 3 1 2 3 5 3 2 1 3 2 1
Just like I was mentioning with our scales, your goal should be to make this smooth, legato, and even.
Flowing from one key to the next smoothly and evenly.
Repeat it as many times as you need to get each note correct, smooth, legato, and even.
Left hand fingering is 5 3 2 1. Once again because we have a sharp that makes finger 3 the best choice. 3 2 1 3 2 1
Pause the video, practice right hand, left hand, A major arpeggios, then press play to go on.
Great work. You've done a lot of scales and arpeggios today.
Now if you want to finish there that's fine, but here's a couple of bonus things you can do.
If you want to be an amazing pianist, the amazing pianists I know practice their scales and arpeggios all the time.
They master them.
Going all the way up and down the piano in all the possible keys major and minor.
And that's so their fingers can handle any challenge in any key in any piece they come up against.
Now if you want to go the extra mile, another thing you can do is with each key, let's say everyday you choose one or two keys to focus on.
So let's say today is G major day.
You might use your metronome.
Maybe I'll set mine to 96 beats per minute,
and I'm going to try and go two notes per click.
Now if I like how that sounded, I might stick with it. If I want to work on making it smoother maybe I'll try it again.
Once I'm happy with it, I'll go on to my arpeggio. Maybe just one note per click.
Arpeggios are a little trickier, but if I want to push myself maybe
maybe I'll try two notes per click after I've done it once one note per click.
After I've done my arpeggios and scale, then I'll go through my diatonic chords from that key,
playing and naming each one. G major I chord, A minor ii chord, B minor iii chord, C major IV chord, D major V chord, E minor vi chord,
F-sharp diminished vii chord, G major I chord.
Then I'll try my inversions for G major.
Do you see the difference between diatonic chords and inversions? Diatonic chords are all repositioned I'm just stepping everything up.
Inversions are where I take this bottom note and put it on top. It's a totally different concept from diatonic chords so don't get those two mixed up.
Okay, so by adding in diatonic chords as well as inversions we've got a complete workout
for each key. Be sure to do it right hand and left hand.
So that's one way you might approach your practicing every day. Choose one or two keys and go through all of those skills, scales,
arpeggios, diatonic chords and inversions.
Great job today playing arpeggios and scales in G, D, and A major.
I hope you'll continue to review these scales everyday on your own so you'll be prepared for more advanced playing
as you continue to level up your skills.
Happy practicing, and see you next time!
Okay Mr. Hoffman we're coming!
Oh good I can't take much more of this being stuck at prestissimo.
Monkey knows what to do, don't you Monkey.
Okay, go for it.
How's that?
No, I don't think that fixed it.
Uh, oh.
Is that better?
Um, this is a little better, but Allegro is still pretty fast can we just go for a nice comfortable moderato?
Come on...
Whoa Monkey, this is really crazy--allegro...
Hey, what's going on? Help! Monkey?
Um...
I'm glad that's over. I'm finally back to normal.
Hey Monkey, thank you. How did you fix it?
You took the battery out? I guess that's one way to do it.
Well, come on Monkey. We better take the tempo indication machine to your repair shop.
Come on.
Hold on, maybe you better let me keep that.
Oh, trust us Mr. Hoffman we're highly trained professionals, right Monkey?
Oh hey, watch out for that--
Hehe, don't worry about a thing Mr. Hoffman.
Monkey wait up!