F-sharp minor for Piano - Scales, Chords & Exercises - OKTAV (2024)

by Elke Galvin • October 18, 2023 • 4 minute read

Learn everything about the F-sharp minor scale for piano - notes and fingerings for both hands included! Exercise the F-sharp minor scale and chords to improve your playing skills and music theory knowledge.

Characterized as "a gloomy key" full of resentment and discontent, there are a few piano concerti and sonatas in this key, most notably the slow movement of Beethoven's Hammerklavier piano sonata and several pieces of music by Chopin. As to modern pieces, Yiruma's megahit "River Flows in You" is in F-sharp minor, just to give you a not-very-gloomy example.

The Notes of the F-sharp minor Scale

The F-sharp minor scale starts out on F# and then goes up using F#-G#-A-B-C#-D-E-F#. On the piano, you need to play four black keys and three white keys.

How to Play the F-sharp minor Scale With the Right Hand (Treble Clef)

On the piano, you can play the F-sharp minor scale going up (toward the higher notes), or coming down. In thetreble clef, do this

• Play the following notes going up:F#-G#-A-B-C#-D-E-F#. Start playing with your second finger, and tuck your thumb after you have played the G#, to play the A. Play up to the third finger, the C#, and tuck your thumb again to play the D. Then play up with your second and third finger, to reach the E and F#.
• Play the following notes going down:F#-E-D-C#-B-A-G#-F#.Now reverse everything! Start playing with your third finger and play down to the first finger on the D. Then tuck your third finger over to reach the C#. Then play down to the first finger, and A, again. Tuck one last time, to play the third, and then second, finger, on G# and F#, respectively.

How to Play the F-sharp minor Scale With the Left Hand (Bass Clef)

Piano beginners may find it difficult to read and play the left hand. It is worth investing some time to really familiarize yourself with the notes of the F-sharp minor scale in thebass clef, and learn how to read them in music scores.

The notes are the same as in the right hand (F#-G#-A-B-C#-D-E-F#), but they look different:

This is how you play:

• Going up:Starting with your fourth finger, play up to the first finger and the B, then tuck your third finger over the thumb to reach the C#. Play up to the thumb on E, and tuck your third finger to play the final F#.
• Coming down: Reverse the way you came up: Start with your third finger on F#, then play the E with the first finger, and continue down with the second and third finger. Tuck your thumb to reach the B. Continue down until you reach the F# with your fourth finger.

The F-sharp minor Key Signature

The key signature, located at the beginning of each line of a piece, lets you see which notes will be raised (#) or lowered (b) consistently throughout that piece.

If you spot this key signature below, the piece is likely either in F-sharp minor (or in its parallel major scale A-Major, you'll be able to determine that from the mood of the piece):

6 Exercises to Practice the F-sharp minor Scale

Play one exercise after the other and only move on after having correctly played the previous exercise 5 times on your piano:

1. Play the left hand up and down using a metronome and slowly increasing speed
2. Play the right hand up and down using a metronome and slowly increasing speed
3. Play both hands up and down using a metronome and slowly increasing speed
4. Play the left hand up starting from the lowest F# to the highest, and down starting from the highest F# to the lowest
5. Play the right hand up starting from the lowest F# to the highest, and down starting from the highest F# to the lowest
6. Play both hands up starting with the left hand on the lowest F# and stopping when the right hand reaches the highest F#, then play down to the starting position

Why you should exercise scales in general:

• To memorize a scale
• To practice dexterity and intonation (play all keys with even loudness. Beginners often play the notes they work with their stronger fingers much harder. Aim for an even tone)
• To be able to play the scale in time without hesitating to find your fingerings
• To be able to build chords and improvise

F-sharp minor Chords on the Piano

A minor chord is constructed of three or more notes: The root note - theminorthird - the perfect fifth.

In short, this tells us for F-sharp minor:

• The basicF-sharp minor chordconsists ofF#-A-C#.
• The first inversion is A-C#-F#.
• The second inversion isC#-F#-A.

To practice the F-sharp minor chord and inversions, switch from the chord starting with the root note to the first, and the second inversion, starting slowly using a metronome, then increasing your tempo.