Practicing a scale in contrary motion means that one hand performs the scale ascending while the other performs it descending. Next, you can begin to practice the piano chromatic scale in contrary motion. Pay special attention to how and where your fingers move in unison and where they move contrary to one another. All twelve keysįirst, practice the chromatic scale one octave with both hands in all twelve keys. Now that you understand the fingering for the chromatic scale with both hands, it is time to introduce some variations into your piano scales practice. Once you feel comfortable with right and left hands separately, try to practice the piano chromatic scale with both hands together as shown below: The left hand pattern shares a similar gesture as the right hand between consecutive black and white keys, using the third finger followed by the first finger, but is mirrored on consecutive white keys, using the second finger followed by the first finger.Īgain, begin by practicing this left hand fingering slowly and gradually build up speed until you can burn through it. What patterns do you notice in this left hand fingering? Is the left hand finger pattern the same or different from the right hand? When you feel comfortable with the right hand fingering, begin to practice the left hand finger pattern: If you practice slowly, you will soon be able to fly through this finger pattern. Practice this fingering slowly and gradually build up speed as you become more comfortable and confident. If you do not feel comfortable with these sorts of piano finger patterns, online piano lessons from Skoove could really help you out! This is a great pattern to practice between chromatic notes. When there are two white keys in a row, use your first finger followed by your second finger. Chromatic scale fingeringsĬheck out this example of the C chromatic scale:Ĭan you identify any patterns in this fingering? Each time you move from a black key to a white key, use your third finger followed by your first finger.

Here is a great list of popular riffs using the chromatic scale.

Chromatic scales can start from any of the twelve tones, so there are twelve different iterations or inversions of the scale. No credit card details required Start your piano journey now! What is a chromatic scale?Ĭhromatic scales are the scales that includes all twelve tones in sequential order:Ī, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, and G#/Ab.

Define chromatic