Here we are 10 years later - much has happened in the world since you posted this excellent video! One addition I would like to make is that it's important to set goals and track your progress. This is very motivational - especially for kids. For example - my 11you son is working on all Maj, MMin, HMin scales, 4 octaves aiming to get to 4 notes/beat @ 120bpm. To qualify for a tempo, the scales have to be played twice in succession smoothly and evenly at that tempo. This really aids in listening carefully and self-critiquing. Writing it down every day shows where the issues are. We practice 3/4 of the time with metronome below our capable speeds (s-l-o-w practice), 1/4 at the max perfect speed and occasionally play well beyond to get the fingers moving - these don't have to be perfect. The results are stunning. Cheers and thanks from Sydney - Dave

Thanks Jonathan, this is really useful

Thanks for the video. I especially like when you play each hand independently with different styles.

Thanks! So glad you found it helpful!

That was some excellent teaching. I will apply that right away. Thanks

I love these warmups. I use Hannon exercises almost daily. Very helpful to loosen up.

some great ideas for practicing scales !!! THANKS !

Thankyou for this video, training tips like these are so valuable to incorporate in my practicing

thank you for posting this. very well done!

Thanks alot for the video.. :) I'am studying for my 8th grade, without a proper teacher... youtube is like my only resource for learning and understanding techniques.. again, thanks for the wonderful lesson mate.. :)

Thank you

brilliant thanks

Most of the Beethoven Sonatas are of grade 8 or above standard. For grade 6 ABRSM you have to play all the major and minor scales (harmonic and melodic) and arpeggios 4 octaves together and separately, legato and staccato. There are a few extras including chromatics, diminished sevenths... you can download the syllabus for free from abrsm.org. Hope that helps!

There can be a different feel on grands and upright pianos but then again every piano is slightly different in its tone and touch. The important thing I feel for developing a good technique is to be practising on a piano which has an even action and tone. If possible getting practise on different instruments is useful since as pianists we don't have the luxury of carrying our instrument with us and have to be able to adapt to a new instrument fairly quickly!

Some grete advice thanks.

Yes you can certainly improvise over the triads of C using the major pentatonic. If you want to improvise over a C minor chord then use the flattened third pentatonic (C D Eb G A).

@entertainerd haha I know.. its justa weird key... makes my fingers feel a little awkward, if ya know what I mean

Have you any video showing scales for seven chord on diferent ways like jazzmen (alt, dim, etc?

yea and does that major pentatonic scale work for soloing on all the triads of the C?

If there were many great teachers how many greater pianists there would be. I like how easy you made great technique look. I can't imagine who your teacher, was or is. Yeah that learning is an ongoing process. Just a Horowitz wanna be...,3 Great Lesson.

Hey Im working on Beethoven's 16th Piano Sonata and im trying my best to work out the b minor scale he plays at the start of the 2nd theme group but im not quite sure how to properly play the scale. Any suggestions?

Hi, I'm afraid I don't actually play that particular Sonata but am happy to have a look and see if I can offer some suggestions. I wonder if you can give me bar numbers for the section you are referring to? I assume its in the first movement?

what scale is the cde ag?

hi jonathan. i'm just wondering why people usually don't practice all the modes of the major/minor scales in every key too, like the different myxolidian's and dorians and locrians. it doesn't worth it ? there are a lot of scales that the fingering changes through the different modes, so i think it's useful.i'm just curious, what do you think ?

What would grade 6 be? I've heard of these grades some countries have, but we don't have them in the United States. I'm sure I'm fine since I'm playing Beethoven Sonatas, but I'm just curious. Scales have always been a weakness for me.

isn't it better to prastise on grand pianos, uprights tend to give a louder sound and it's hard to get subtle notes- just my experience. do you always practice on uprights?

Practising is spelt differently in America and England. We spell it as practising but in America they use practicing.

there is also other scales except the usual ones r do you practice them?

I think you probably C D E G A? That's the major pentatonic scale. Very useful scale, especially for jazz.

can u teach me? i play very basic.

my teatcher learnd me this in my first year --'

do it in F# MAJOR :D

If you're looking at the ABRSM syllabus then they don't include contrary motion scales at grade 8. Instead you have scales with the hands a third apart and a sixth apart. Its still a good idea to keep practising the contrary motion scales though.

u spelled practicing wrong!!!! :/

Advanced?????????? :))))))))))))