i was just wondering.... what do you think is the hardest scale to play on the piano??

i think it is b flat major two hands together!!

as stupid as it sounds, for me the hardest scale is C major. i much prefer lots of sharps or flats

true, but with B flat major you have to start on different fingers an its confusin

actually, I do hate Bb major. The scales with loads of flats are dead easy.

some of the sharp and flat minor melodics are pretty nasty.

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Dec 30 2004, 11:37 AM)

as stupid as it sounds, for me the hardest scale is C major. i much prefer lots of sharps or flats

I agree about C Major! I t's better (for me, anyway) to have some black keys in there as reference points for fingering - more of a familiar terrain than a flat landscape.

What sort of question is this!!!???

I find the Eb minor in 3rds difficult to play legato evenly - but darned good at sorting out sloppy thirds or chord playing. Can't play them all (3rds) to full speed but they sure highlight when things are going wrong.

my favourite grade 2 scale is E flat major!! i dont know why it's just really easy.

QUOTE (Rhapsodin @ Dec 30 2004, 11:59 AM)

What sort of question is this!!!???

heehee. honestly you have me in hysterics! its a pity i have to go soon!

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Dec 30 2004, 12:11 PM)

QUOTE (Rhapsodin @ Dec 30 2004, 11:59 AM) What sort of question is this!!!??? heehee. honestly you have me in hysterics! its a pity i have to go soon!

Are you taking your shadow with you?

unfortunately yes! lucky for you though!

QUOTE (Rhapsodin @ Dec 30 2004, 11:59 AM)

What sort of question is this!!!??? I find the Eb minor in 3rds difficult to play legato evenly - but darned good at sorting out sloppy thirds or chord playing. Can't play them all (3rds) to full speed but they sure highlight when things are going wrong.

Hah. No kidding. I'm sticking with the normal intervals till I've got them sorted thanks very much! Fortunately I'm about 3 grades ahead on my scales in relation to my pieces, so I won't have to worry about playing in 3rds evenly for quite some time. Hoping my facility with scales will eventually result in being better at learning and playing pieces!!

QUOTE (sarah-flute @ Dec 30 2004, 12:35 PM)

Hah. No kidding. I'm sticking with the normal intervals till I've got them sorted thanks very much! Fortunately I'm about 3 grades ahead on my scales in relation to my pieces, so I won't have to worry about playing in 3rds evenly for quite some time. Hoping my facility with scales will eventually result in being better at learning and playing pieces!!

Did you try the alternative fingerings?
(I find them easier in the majors and some of the minors, just a few - the standard seems easier).

Edit: I realised a little too late, I fear, just how much scales practice does influence the standard of playing generally especially as many pieces contain scales, arpeggs or runs in one guise or another.

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Dec 30 2004, 12:18 PM)

unfortunately yes! lucky for you though!

Mm? Always pleased when luck comes my way. .. What's the hardest note on the piano to play?

Erm, they're all hard... if you don't know which is which!

C major.

Also the chromatic thirds ones are tricky.

QUOTE (Rhapsodin @ Dec 30 2004, 01:35 PM)

What's the hardest note on the piano to play?

Bottom A or top C. If you miss you can hurt yourself.

V

QUOTE (Rhapsodin @ Dec 30 2004, 01:32 PM)

Did you try the alternative fingerings? (I find them easier in the majors and some of the minors, just a few - the standard seems easier).

not yet... I'll have a look.

I love the chromatics in minor thirds! they are fun!

Wyldbabi - LOL!!!

For me, its Bb major, or any one of the melodic minors with more than 4 sharps/flats.

For heaven`s sake Bb major is easy peasy.Start off with both your third fingers..RH 4ths always go on Bb thereafter as is the case with all RH Major scales in Flats.

For harmonic and melodic always start with 2nds.(Same applies to Eb).
But Bb LH begins 213...4th on Gb.

Sit down and make sure you know what notes you are actually playing.

As for the other scales mentioned, my preference is alternative fingering ,but Mr R Sod it! TeleWooHoo knows this!

Tub-errbily sorry about that,but it had to be said

Way-hayyyy! To ring the noo yar in I've just done me hardest scale - can';t think why it should be but still... H minor.


So there, Ms GuestWho!

LOL...I bet its real hard

Hey, be careful, the state I'm in, you may have to show me what to do... coming down fingering is hard... oh, by the way I was talking about 3rds.


Happy new year anyway, GW!
x

Surprises me that H maj or min hasn't appeared here before. Posh, aren't we, Rhap? Is that an exotic trend for 2005.

I agree with Guestwho why is one scale harder than others? When it's new, when people are afraid of sharps and flats? When you don't start on your thumb/little finger?
What's the difference?


V

On piano at least it is the way they lie under the fingers.
Personally I find both B and Bb harmonic minors the most awkward.
As for thirds and 6ths once you get the coordination they are no harder than octave apart scales. Just a matter of knowing them properly first.

QUOTE (Rhapsodin @ Dec 30 2004, 01:32 PM)

Edit: I realised a little too late, I fear, just how much scales practice does influence the standard of playing generally especially as many pieces contain scales, arpeggs or runs in one guise or another.

hah, I realised late too... I suspect that is why even now I've restarted lessons and am actually enjoying them this time around, my pieces are lagging so far behind... eventually they will catch up, then I hope my scales will be really helpful.

I agree with you sbhoa about B and Bb harmonic minors - they are awkward.

I think Bb is just awkward because it's the first one that you learn that you don't start with the "usual" fingers, but at the same time it doesn't have enough flats to make it lie easily under your fingers... for instance, Gb and Db majors are easy peasy lemon squeezy, because they just lie to comfortably - much more so than Bb... and also possibly because by the time you get to them, the idea of starting on different fingers is much more familiar...

Familiarity breeds contempt... some of the scales that at first I was like, "yikes, no!" I can now play with ease... and occassionally I mess up even the easiest scale... say Eb major - just because it doesn't get practiced often enough as being "easy", and so I have to think to myself "now, this one's major..." before I start playing, or I'd end up playing one of the minors or something, just because I practiced them so much to get them in my head and my fingers!! I think some of them ARE harder than others... say the flat melodics, where you have different fingerings ascending and descending... can't tell me that's as easy to learn as C major - "all the white notes!" some scales seem more intimidating when you look at them on the page. but once you've familiarised yourself with them, then yes, in terms of ease there isn't a lot between the hard and the easy... it's a matter of practising them till they just flow. it's also keeping them familiar... a scale you haven't played in a year is probably not going to feel as easy as one you played 3 times a day for a month!

I've a friend who plays chromatics and it sounds like he is running his thumb down the keyboard - really fast and smooth. now that's ease of playing, and no wonder he's such a fine pianist!

I think 6ths/3rds/10ths are probably fine once you know the scales REALLY well. what I find hard with them is firstly, for instance in C major, say, in 3rds, you have to remember with your right hand to move 3-1, which isn't so obvious and automatic when you didn't just play 123 before it. and in the more complex key signatures, you might be playing a white key with one hand and a black key with the other... and that kinda feels weird when you're not used to it, and can be really offputting.

i also think that C major is also a bit hard to play.coz thre isnt any sharps or flats at all!!! i cant play C major too fast, coz it's too ''plain''.hehe, dunno y.

I have always hated Bb major on the piano, and I'm not that keen on C major either because there are no sharps or flats to act as marker points and to force you to do the correct fingering, so I normally end up with my fingers in a tangle. But for my all time worst scale it has to be f sharp minor which I never liked on any instrument I have ever played!

I find C major more difficult than some other scales because of the lack of black notes to keep me from getting my fingers mixed up too!

I think that the problem with C major is not so much the lack of black notes to navigate by as the way your hands need to be nearer to the edge of the keys because you are not playing black notes.

QUOTE (sbhoa @ Jan 3 2005, 05:08 PM)

I think that the problem with C major is not so much the lack of black notes to navigate by as the way your hands need to be nearer to the edge of the keys because you are not playing black notes.

I hadn't thought of that- that might well be it.

B minor is yuck, i messed that up in grade 5 as i crossed with the wrong finger oops! but i like Bb minor

QUOTE (Wyldbabi @ Jan 1 2005, 03:10 PM)

Surprises me that H maj or min hasn't appeared here before. Posh, aren't we, Rhap? Is that an exotic trend for 2005.

H is of course German for B natural so Rhaps means B minor

i hate E flat minor and cont motion scales like F major!
and broken chords are evil!

Eb minor isn't so bad... the melodic minors I generally find more difficult than harmonic.

some of the contraries are evil... currently trying to learn Bb minor contrary, then I'll know all the majors n harmonic minors in contrary motion... but boy, it's EVIL. I'm sure it's taken me at least as long as any other two minors put together!!!

Scales which are a 6th apart.

I have always seem to have had something against B major. I think it's more mental than anything else, but it still causes problems.