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The F Minor Scale
The F minor scale has four flats. Like F major, the right hand plays four notes before the thumb passes under, which is the one place where the fingering differs from most scales. The harmonic and melodic forms raise the notes near the top, and in the melodic form, the top four notes become white keys.
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F Minor Scale Overview
| F Minor Scale Overview | |
|---|---|
| Keyboard Layout |  |
| Staff Layout |  |
| Key Signature | Four flats (B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭) |
| Notes of Scale | F, G, A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F |
| RH Fingering | 1 2 3 4 - 1 2 3 4 |
| LH Fingering | 5 - 4 3 2 1 - 3 2 1 |
| Relative Scale | A-flat Major Scale |
| Parallel Scale | F Major Scale |
Visualize the F minor scale layout on the piano
These charts show the overall layout, or terrain, of the F minor scale in each of its three forms.
Natural Minor
Harmonic Minor
Melodic Minor
The natural minor has four black keys, A-flat, B-flat, D-flat, and E-flat, with the white keys F, G, and C in between. It shares its notes with its relative major, A-flat major.
Read the F minor scale on the staff
Natural Minor
Harmonic Minor
Melodic Minor
Here is the F natural minor scale on the staff, one octave up and back down.
Play the F minor scale with hands alone
Let’s start with each hand on its own. Every scale divides into two core positions, the groups of notes the hand can hold in one position: a group of three notes played with fingers 1-2-3 (red on the charts) and a group of four played with 1-2-3-4 (blue).
The F minor scale uses the same fingering as F major. In the right hand, the four-note group comes first: F, G, A-flat, and B-flat on 1-2-3-4, then C, D-flat, and E-flat on 1-2-3, with the top F on the fourth finger. In the left hand, the fifth finger plays the bottom F, 4-3-2-1 play G, A-flat, B-flat, and C, and 3-2-1 play D-flat, E-flat, and F.
The charts below show the core positions of the F minor scale in each of its three forms.
Natural Minor
Harmonic Minor
Melodic Minor
A useful way to work with the core positions is in three stages:
- Block: play all the notes of each core position together, moving up and down the keyboard. This lets us see each position as one shape and get used to the pattern repeating.
- Crawl: play one note at a time, but hold each note down until the whole position is under the hand, then pause before moving on. This builds the physical sense of each grouping.
- Anticipate: play legato, releasing each finger as the next one plays, while keeping the next position in mind before we arrive at it.
Play the F minor scale with hands together
When we put the hands together in F minor, the sync points are the thing to follow: the moments where both hands land on the same finger, or where the fingers form a mirror image. They fall in the same places in all three forms, even though some of the notes change, and the examples below use the harmonic minor.
Fingers 2, 3, and 4 form a mirror image on G, A-flat, and B-flat, and fingers 2 and 3 form another on D-flat and E.
The thumbs come together on C, in the middle of the scale.
The same three stages work for sync points:
- Block: find each sync point and play it on its own, outside the scale.
- Crawl: play the scale up and down, stopping on each sync point to look at it and notice how it feels under the hands. There’s no need for legato here.
- Anticipate: play in a steady rhythm, seeing each sync point coming and landing on it with a slight accent.
Expand the F minor scale to more octaves
Once one octave feels consistent, we can extend the scale. In the right hand, the thumb takes over the top F from the fourth finger and the core positions repeat, with the fourth finger returning only on the final note. The left hand continues the core positions, with the thumb on each F above the starting note and the fifth finger only at the very bottom.
Natural Minor
Harmonic Minor
Melodic Minor
Here is the F natural minor scale in two octaves, ascending and descending, with fingering.
Avoid common mistakes in the F minor scale
As in F major, the right hand plays four notes, F, G, A-flat, and B-flat, before the thumb passes under to C. The habit of tucking the thumb under after the third finger is the thing to watch for.
The thumbs land on F and C, surrounded by black keys. Tucking the thumb under a little early means it arrives in time.
Other techniques related to the F minor piano scale:
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