What are scales and how do you play them?

Question:

What are scales and how do you play them?

im trying to lern to play them,but they seem so complicated,and i dont know if whats its telling me to do is right,or if i can even do them.help?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Since you already have a lot of technical answers down, I won't get into really heavy music theory with scales. Before I took a music theory class I really didn't understand what the heck anyone was saying when they tried explaining steps, intervals, and what-not. I'm assuming that right now scales look like a bunch of random notes on the page to you, so I'm going to try to keep it simple to begin with.

If you can, ask a (or, if you have one, your) music teacher or someone who plays piano to show you what scales look like on the piano. For me it was a lot easier to see the intervals and steps when someone showed me on a piano (slowly!) what intervals look like and how they fit into a scale. By watching the space between the keys you can actually SEE intervals (whole steps and half steps).

Something to notice with scales. By now you have probably noticed that there are 7 notes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) that you can play. A scale is made up of these 7 notes (and if you just said, "Wait!!! Scales are 8 notes!!" it is because scales have 8 notes because the first note is repeated at the end, so if you started on a C, you would go C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C for an eight-note scale) with a certain amount of musical space (an interval) between them. In scales you have whole steps and half steps. For a quick example, a whole step would be the distance between F and G. A half step would be the distance between F and F sharp, or G flat and G. Two half steps fit into one whole step (just like math, two halves of a pie make a whole pie). So, if you count the 7 different notes and the different ways you can make them sharp or flat you come up with 12 notes. That is why there are 12 major scales, because each scale starts on one of the 12 different notes.

This is as far as I'll go with theory. Absorb this much, and get the idea of intervals to click. After that, ask a music teacher to explain (or look up) the Circle of Fifths. The Circle of Fifths is a handy tool musicians use to help with scales and key signatures within the scales.

Another good thing to do is have someone play you some scales (I suggest learning all 12 "major" scales first before tackling the "minor" scales, once you know and understand the major scales the minor scales will be easy). After you hear a bunch of the major scales you should start noticing a pattern with the sounds, so when you practice you should be able to tell when a note sounds "wrong," so you can know, "Oh, whatever I just played must be wrong, I must have missed a sharp, flat, or added one." Since all the major scales will have the same pattern of whole and half steps your ear will get used to the "feel" of the scale. This is why it might be easier for you to learn all the major scales first, so you don't confuse yourself with major and minor.

My last bit of advice, and believe me, it is coming from someone who used to despise scales with her entire soul and being, you just have to practice them. Once you start learning scales you will be amazed at all the times you will notice them in music. It is going to take some time, it took me a long time to be able to play scales comfortably. You are going to have to practice a lot, and just continue to pound on through them. You'll think you are getting nowhere, but all the sudden you will notice that you can play them! At this point, do not be afraid to do a happy dance. It's good for you! :)