Do I Need To Learn Scales?

I recently received this question from a woman named Lecia:

I’m trying to learn how to play the piano by ear for fun and enjoyment, and although I know how very important it is to learn scales, my question is: Does one learn the scales (all 12) so that they’re so ingrained in your brain that your fingers know exactly where to go when forming chords to play songs? All the videos and info that I’ve watched and read, push ‘learning all the scales’ so much, that I’m beginning to get paranoid about them.

Great question! I’ll bet other readers are wondering the same thing. So here are my thoughts on the matter.

As a result of teaching hundreds of private students, and thousands more through my video tutorials, I’m convinced of this basic premise: one of the best ways to get started at the piano—if not the best way—is learning to accompany your own singing. For this approach, the beginner needs:

• Knowledge of a few simple chords.
• Knowing how to use your body—particularly wrists, fingers, and arms—in the most effective and relaxed manner possible. You want to form great technical habits from the start.

This is is why, as I teach beginners, I introduce chord exercises (rather than scales) that accomplish both goals at the same time. To see this in action, watch this video.

I introduce this little piece at the very first lesson, along with a separate exercise, involving chord inversions, that enables the student to use chords in the context of a basic accompaniment.

Then, at the second lesson, the student is able to tackle a genuine piano/vocal arrangement.

Do you notice I’ve said nothing, so far, about scales? That’s for two reasons:

• We accompany songs with chords, not scales. So why not cut to the chase and get right to work on mastering chords? (Many students of classical piano will attest to the fact that’s it’s possible to practice scales for years without the least understanding of chords.)

• To play scales properly is more difficult than playing chords. If you approach scales too soon, you can easily develop tension in your wrists—a habit that will be hard to break.

Now, having said all this, scales are important. And I sometimes discuss them, even in the first few lessons. But at this early stage, I would never ask a student to practice all twelve scales with proper fingering.

At first, when I discuss scales, it’s to show how chords derive from scales. In this way, beginners learn to build chords in any key, without having to resort to a reference.

In addition, understanding the major scale—which is essentially a pattern of whole and half steps—sheds light on what it means to play “in the key of c, or g, or f” and so on. This is covered in the first few lessons, without the need for learning to play scales beautifully.

As the months go by, my students eventually do practice scales. But this happens on a different schedule, and in different ways, for individual students, depending on their needs and goals.

Make sense? If so, you’ll now understand why, in my tutorials on basic piano accompaniment, the primary focus is on mastering chords.