Piano scales chart

How to read the chart

Each scale goes up one octave, both hands an octave apart, and the numbers say which finger plays each note: 1 is the thumb and 5 the little finger, in both hands (piano finger numbers has the hands drawn). Practise each hand on its own first, slowly, going up and coming back down with the same fingers in reverse. The right hand's numbers read left to right as it climbs; the left hand's also read left to right, from its lowest note up.

The minor in each row is the harmonic minor: the natural minor with its 7th note raised a half step, which is why A minor has G♯ written in where its natural minor has G. The scales guide explains the three kinds of minor and shows every natural minor.

In every one of these 30 fingerings the thumb only ever plays a white key: it is too short to reach in among the black keys without twisting the hand. That one rule decides most of them. C major and the white-key scales near it keep the thumb on the key note; scales full of black keys start on another finger so the thumb can land on the white keys between them.

Scales that share a fingering

Learn one and you have the others. Of the 30 scales, 27 share their fingering in both hands with at least one other:

• RH 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 · LH 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1: C, G, D, A and E major; A, E, D, G and C minor
• RH 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 · LH 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 3: A♭ major; C♯, G♯ and A♭ minor
• RH 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 · LH 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1: B and C♭ major; B minor
• RH 2 3 4 1 2 3 1 2 · LH 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 4: F♯ and G♭ major
• RH 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 · LH 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 2: D♯ and E♭ minor
• RH 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 · LH 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 3: C♯ and D♭ major
• RH 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 · LH 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 2: A♯ and B♭ minor
• RH 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 · LH 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1: F major; F minor

The rest have one of their own: B♭ and E♭ major; F♯ minor.

Where the fourth finger goes

The quickest way to remember a fingering is to know which note the 4th finger plays: it falls once or twice an octave, and the other fingers fall into place round it. The notes the 4th finger plays in the right hand (RH) and the left (LH):

Going on to two octaves

Play the same pattern again from the key note. The 5th finger only plays the very top note in the right hand and the very bottom note in the left: in the middle of a longer run the thumb takes that key note instead, in the right hand for the 15 scales that start on 1 and in the left hand for the 15 that end on 1. The 15 scales that start and end on the same finger in both hands just carry on. A♯ minor, B♭ major and B♭ minor start on the 4th finger, the one the key note takes in every octave; some books start the first note with 2 instead, since nothing comes before it.