Questions and answers
No questions on this lesson yet. Be the first to ask one.
Lesson Steps
Add a header to begin generating the table of contents
The G-sharp Minor Scale
The G-sharp minor scale has five sharps and sits almost entirely on the black keys. In the harmonic and melodic forms, the seventh note becomes F-double-sharp, the white key G. It helps to think of the scale as shapes on the black keys rather than a list of sharps, and to treat the two white keys as landmarks for the thumbs.
Lesson Steps
Add a header to begin generating the table of contents
G-sharp Minor Scale Overview
| G-sharp Minor Scale Overview | |
|---|---|
| Keyboard Layout |  |
| Staff Layout |  |
| Key Signature | Five sharps (F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯) |
| Notes of Scale | G♯, A♯, B, C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯ |
| RH Fingering | 3 4 - 1 2 3 - 1 2 3 |
| LH Fingering | 3 2 1 - 4 3 2 1 - 3 |
| Relative Scale | B Major Scale |
| Parallel Scale | A-flat Major Scale |
Visualize the G-sharp minor scale layout on the piano
These charts show the overall layout, or terrain, of the G-sharp minor scale in each of its three forms.
Natural Minor
Harmonic Minor
Melodic Minor
The natural minor uses five black keys and just two white keys, B and E. Like its relative major, B major, it’s built around the groups of black keys.
Read the G-sharp minor scale on the staff
Natural Minor
Harmonic Minor
Melodic Minor
Here is the G-sharp natural minor scale on the staff, one octave up and back down.
Play the G-sharp minor scale with hands alone
Let’s take each hand separately first. It helps to think of the scale in terms of its core positions, the two groups of notes the hand can cover without moving: three notes played with 1-2-3 (red on the charts) and four played with 1-2-3-4 (blue).
The core positions don’t begin on the keynote. The right hand begins with fingers 3 and 4 on G-sharp and A-sharp, then plays B, C-sharp, and D-sharp on 1-2-3, and E, F-sharp, and G-sharp on 1-2-3. The left hand plays G-sharp, A-sharp, and B on 3-2-1, and C-sharp, D-sharp, E, and F-sharp on 4-3-2-1, ending with the third finger on the top G-sharp.
The charts below show the core positions of the G-sharp 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 G-sharp minor scale with hands together
When we put the hands together in G-sharp 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.
The 3rd fingers meet on G-sharp, D-sharp, and the top G-sharp.
The thumbs come together on B, and fingers 1 and 2 form a mirror image on E and F-double-sharp.
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 G-sharp minor scale to more octaves
Because neither hand uses the fifth finger, extending the G-sharp minor scale to more octaves is mostly a matter of letting the core positions keep repeating. The fingering at the top and bottom stays exactly as it is in one octave.
Natural Minor
Harmonic Minor
Melodic Minor
Here is the G-sharp natural minor scale in two octaves, ascending and descending, with fingering.
Avoid common mistakes in the G-sharp minor scale
F-double-sharp, in the harmonic and melodic forms, is played on the white key G. It looks unusual on the staff; it helps to think of it as the white key just below the top G-sharp.
Five sharps can look intimidating, but the natural minor is simply the black keys plus B and E. Those two white keys are the landmarks for the thumbs.
Other techniques related to the G-sharp minor piano scale:
Explore More Piano Scales
Continue learning with our full library of piano scale lessons
