Printable Piano Music Scales for Beginners

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Would you like to finally learn piano music scales with the correct fingering?

Here you can print and practice all the major and harmonic minor piano music scales with fingering. The printable scales are organized in groups with comments, so you can learn the fingering easier.

Free printable piano music scales.

There are 12 Major and 12 Minor Piano Music Scales

All 12 major scales share the same pattern of whole and half steps between the notes: 

Whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half

This pattern of whole and half steps is what creates the sound of major.

The 12 minor scales, however, come in 3 variations:

  1. The Harmonic minor scale uses the same keys as the parallel major scale (same starting note, but major), but lowers the 3rd and the 6th.
  2. The Melodic minor scale uses the same keys as the parallel major scale, but lowers the 3rd when ascending (going up) and lowers both the 7th, 6th and third going down.
  3. The Natural minor scale uses the same keys as the parallel major scale, but lowers the 3rd, 6th and 7th steps.

Piano Scales Fingering Rules

A simple rule when playing scales is not to use your 1st finger on a black key (since it is too short).

The fingering pattern you will see (much more clearly when playing many octaves) is the grouping of finger numbers 1 2 3 and 1 2 3 4.

Try to practice piano music scales that share the same fingering first, and always hands separately.

It may be fun to play both, but it's more important to first of all be able to confidently play one hand at a time without effort.

Now go and do some "finger-jogging" with these piano scale exercises! But remember to start S-L-O-W-L-Y!

Printable Piano Music Scales in all Major and Harmonic Minor Keys

All the scales here are in one octave, but you can of course practice each piano scale in as many octaves and in any tempo you like.

The scales are organized in order of difficulty following the circle of fifths, but I also teamed the major scales with the parallel harmonic minor scales so that you can see the small changes they actually have.

Many times you can even use the same fingering! Make sure to read the comments in the score to help you further.

Please note that there is no key signature used. This is to make it easier for beginners to quickly learn the scale pattern and fingering without worrying about learning the key signature.

TIP: Practice the piano music scales in the exact order they are written, this helps you to get used to the fingering patterns!

Free, Printable Piano Scales with Fingering (PDF)

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