How to Play the C Major Scale on the Piano - Scales, Chords & Exercises

What are the notes of the C Major scale?

The C Major scale starts out on C and then goes up using all the white keys of the octave: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

How to Play the C Major Scale With the Right Hand (Treble Clef)

This is perhaps the most essential scale you will learn in the treble clef in your piano career. You can play C Major going up or coming down.

• Play the following notes going up: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Start playing with your first finger, and tuck your thumb after you have played the third note to reach the F. Then play the full hand until you reach the high C.
• Play the following notes going down: C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C. Start playing with your fifth finger and play the full hand, then tuck your third finger over the thumb to play the E, and continue until your first finger reaches the C.

How to Play the C Major Scale With the Left Hand (Bass Clef)

Piano beginners may find it difficult to read and play the left hand. It is worth investing some time to really familiarize yourself with the notes of the C Major scale in the bass clef, and learn how to read them in music scores. The notes are the same as in the right hand (C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C), but they look different in the two different clefs:

How to Play

Going up: Starting with your fifth finger (the pinkie) play the full hand, then tuck your third finger over the thumb to reach the A. Then finish with C on your first finger. Coming down: Start with your first finger. After three notes, tuck your thumb under to reach the G, then play the full hand back down to C. To play down, just reverse the way you came up.

The Key Signature

The key signature, located at the beginning of each line of a piece, lets you see which notes will be raised (#) or lowered (b) consistently throughout that piece. If you spot a key signature without any flats (b) or sharps (#), it is very likely that the piece is in C Major (or it could be in its parallel minor scale, A-minor:

6 Exercises to Practice the C Major Scale

Play one C Major exercise after the other and only move on after having correctly played the previous exercise 5 times on your piano:

1. Play the left hand up and down using a metronome and slowly increasing speed
2. Play the right hand up and down using a metronome and slowly increasing speed
3. Play both hands up and down using a metronome and slowly increasing speed
4. Play the left hand up starting from the lowest C to the highest, and down starting from the highest C to the lowest
5. Play the right hand up starting from the lowest C to the highest, and down starting from the highest C to the lowest
6. Play both hands up starting with the left hand on the lowest C and stopping when the right hand reaches the highest C, then play down to the starting position

Why you should exercise scales in general

• To memorize a scale
• To practice dexterity and intonation (play all keys with even loudness. Beginners often play the notes they work with their stronger fingers much harder. Aim for an even tone)
• To be able to play the scale in time without hesitating to find your fingerings
• To be able to build chords and improvise

The C Major Chord

A chord is constructed of three or more notes: The root note - the major third - the perfect fifth.

For C Major this tells us:

• The basic C Major chord consists of C-E-G.
• The first inversion is E-G-C.
• The second inversion is G-C-E.

To practice the C Major chord and its inversions, switch from the chord starting with the root note to the first, and the second inversion, starting slowly using a metronome, then increasing your tempo.