E Major Scale, Arpeggio & Diatonic Chords

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman,

and in this lesson we're going to be doing all of our usual finger power exercises: scales, arpeggios, and diatonic chords

in the key of E major, which has four, count 'em, four sharps. Let's come to the piano to get started.

Now, what if you happen to forget that E major has four sharps?

Well, the easiest way to remember how many sharps in each key signature is your ladder of fifths.

So, remembering that C major has zero sharps, just travel up by fifths. C up a fifth to G.

Every time you go up a fifth you add a sharp. G major has one sharp. Go up another fifth, G to D. D major has two sharps.

Go up another fifth to A.

A major has three sharps. A up a fifth, E.

By our pattern we know that E has to have four sharps.

So always use that ladder of fifths to help you remember your key signatures.

E major, four sharps.

Now this is also a good time to review our major seconds and minor seconds.

Remember that in a major scale, it's built on all major seconds except in a few key places we have E to F-sharp major second.

F-sharp to G-sharp major second, and then between the third and fourth note, or MI and FA,

DO RE MI FA.

That's where we have our minor second.

Another major second, another major second, another major second,

and then one more minor second between the seventh and eighth note or TI and DO. DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO.

And it's the position of those major and minor seconds that make it sound major.

If we did this:

Notice what an interesting kind of weird sound that is?

That's called phrygian mode, which has that weird sound because look the minor second is between the first and second note.

That's why our ears thinks it sounds so funny.

It's because of where those minor seconds are.

The minor seconds,

if placed between the third and fourth note and the seventh and eighth, that's what makes it sound major.

MI and FA, TI and DO. That has to be where the half step is for it to sound like a major scale.

Now, our E major scale happens to use our basic fingering, which you'll recall

for the right hand is 1 2 3, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3, 1 2 3 4 5.

And then the same fingering coming down.

So let's practice this in groups.

Okay, take your right hand and just play these as a group: 1 2 3.

Then 1 2 3 4. Try this with me. Play each of these as a chord, then 1 2 3.

Then 1 2 3 4, and then finger 5 plays the top note, then a group of four, then a group of three, then a group of four,

then a group of three.

I love practicing scales in these groups because if you've got those groups,

you'll never miss a note as you play the scale. Your fingers will just kind of,

I like to imagine my fingers just getting sucked onto the right keys.

Because if you're touching the right keys, you can't play a wrong note. Your fingers are already where they belong.

Okay, pause the video and I'd like you to work on the right hand two octave E major scale up and down, then press play to go on.

Okay, let's work on the E major scale with our left hand. We're going to start with finger 5 on E,

and then we'll do a group of four,

then a group of three.

Try this with me. Group of four, then a group of three,

then we'll go back down, group of four,

group of three, group of four, and then finger 5 plays the last note.

Then all together we get 5 4 3 2 1, 3 2 1, 4 3 2 1, 3 2 1, comes down with the same fingers.

As you're playing your scales, listen for a really even, smooth tone. You don't want certain notes to pop out. Often it's your thumb. If you have a heavy thumb, you'll kind of drop on it. You want that thumb

to sound just as smooth and as even as your other fingers. So listen for a smooth, even sound as you practice your scales.

Pause the video to work on your left hand E major two octave scale, then press play to go on.

Now, let's do the arpeggio.

The right hand uses the basic fingering 1 2 3. Remember, we're just using an E major I chord,

but we're stretching out a bit. 1 2 3, finger 1 comes under 1 2 3, 5 3 2 1, 3 2 1.

Pause to work on your right hand E major arpeggio, then press play to go on.

Now the left hand does not use the basic fingering.

Our basic fingering remember, is 5 4 2 1, but in E major because we have that sharp, a 4 is a bit

awkward of a stretch. So we're going to use a 3 this time. 5 3 2 1, 3 2 1, 2 3 1, 2 3 5.

Pause to work on your left hand E major ar ...