The Difference Between Major and Minor Scales

If you're a beginner piano player, you may be wondering what makes major and minor scales different. Take the mystery out of piano scales with this music theory lesson for beginners! You'll learn half and whole steps, the formulas to build major and minor scales, and what relative minor means while having fun.

⏳ CHAPTERS
00:00-00:40 - Happy & Sad Scales
00:41 - Half & Whole Steps
01:17 - Major Scale Formula
01:52 - Minor Scale Formula
02:24 - Build Your Own Scale
02:42 - What Is Relative Minor?
03:21 - More Beginner Piano Tips

❓ Have a question? Leave a comment below, and I'll be happy to help you out!

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[brookefajcz]

I like the sound of major scales more than minor, so I tend to practice them more. This video was very creative! Love those guest appearances by Bach and Beethoven.

[OnlySchoolingHere]

Thank you! This video really helped me on my school.

[dennislambert]

I Love seeing your Piano Sessions on YouTube!
You are an Inspiration and A Very Talented Musician and Instructor!
I have learned more about playing the piano from you than all of the seventy years of my life trying to learn piano on my own!
Please keep up your piano lessons on YouTube!
I know and I am sure that many, many other folks are listening and learning quite a bit more than if they tried to learn on their own!
God Bless You Young Lady and God Bless Your Wonderful Family as Well!
Sincerely,
Dennis Kelii Lambert
From The State of Hawaii.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[savortheflavour]

Thanks for explaining this so clearly! Major and minor has confused me in the past, but not any more! 😊

[martybli]

Thanks for the video, just a couple of pointers to make things clearer for any future lessons. At 2:56 you said count down 3 half steps but tapped your finger on C, B, A as if you count C when counting down 3 half steps. Should this not have been counted down as B, A#, A? I always get confused about if I need to count the key I’m starting on as 1 or not when working out intervals etc.

Secondly at 3:04 where you highlight the C Major scale and the A minor scale you have the arrow pointing at B in the C Major scale and F in the A minor scale (11 half steps away) which can lead to confusion for a beginner like myself about where where to look. It would have been much clearer if the arrows were pointing to the relevant keys. i.e. the first C in the scale of C Major and the first A in the scale of A minor.

Had it been done as above I would have had to pause or go back to look again, it just made it more difficult for me to learn from it. Please don’t take this as me rubbishing your work. It’s meant as constructive criticism to assist in your future lessons. 😊

[davids]

That’s amazing thank you so much!!! I’m learning the theory with my partner at the moment since Pianote sometimes builds on that or takes a different approach starting with chords which confused me a lot sometimes not knowing how keys are actually constructed (not just C major but all the others too)

[designsbybeth]

It was fun to participate in this one. 😊

[bridgestobabylon]

Does the way the C major scale and A minor scale relate appear on the circle of fifths and the A minor scale is just a mode of the C where the C major is Ionian and A minor is some “Lydian/polidian/whatever I forget the names all together” type of scale from the C major? Or have I got it in the wrong direction, is the circle of fifths even unilateral ? I have so many questions I think I can answer what I’ve asked above myself by having a look but someone please help me

[Why-are-there-handles]

When you’re looking at/listening to a song, how can you tell if it’s in major or if it’s in the relative minor? I’ve seen people pointing out whether a certain song is major a minor, but if the scales and key signatures are the same, is there any real difference?

[mahdokht]

Hello, Thanks for the videos. music theory has only 3 videoes?

[jbvroxx]

Thanks for the breakdown of the keys. Well explained as usual.
Could you recommend which Major and Minor scales to practice first please?
I guess ultimately, we need to practice all but just wondering if some are more prominent than others.
Thank you

[annettemonkey]

Very good video but it would be nice if you bare in mind that people from the UK watch this also and use different terminology. It would be nice to differentiate between the 2 interpretations e.g tones and semitones, what is that with a half note and full note etc? Please explain.

[elhamrazaghi]

Hi there. I'm thankful for your videos . My question is for hanon no.39. When I want to play with both hands, I confuse my number fingers . Would you please guide me to this.
🌺🌺🌺

[marylee]

This video is very informative! Thank you so much for making high quality videos. You are amazing, Emma!

[pammeacham]

Well done. Great explanation of the difference between major and minor scales. Looking forward to the rest of your videos!

[OneStepToday]

I hate the idea of calling the minor sad. There is nothing happy and sad about them in my view. Minor key is more musical.

[mobody]

Thanks Emma! I just came from another video that left my brain hurting trying to understand this concept.. You explained this beautifully! :)