E Flat Major Scale on Piano

Notes, Fingering & How To Play It

The E flat major scale on piano not a beginner scale but it's also not on the really difficult end either. It uses a fingering built around the notes of the scale (rather than a standard fingering) and has 3 flats - B, E and A.

Here you'll learn:

how to play the Eb scale
the notes of the Eb major scale
fingering for the right hand (on piano)
fingering for the left hand
the key signature of E flat major
a bit about the Eb major chord
what to practice!

E Flat Major Scale - Video Tutorial

Notes of the Eb Major Scale

The E flat major scale starts and ends on Eb - so we're starting on a black note. It has a total of 3 black notes in it's key signature.

The key of Eb has Bb, Eb and Ab.

The notes of the Eb major scale are: Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb

Notes of Eb Major Scale

Piano Fingering for Eb Major Scale

The fingering for the E flat major scale on piano is unique for both the right hand and left hand. By this I mean it's not a standard scale fingering. So each one should be learned on it's own in the beginning before trying to play hands together. (Get that muscle memory down!)

One of the different things is that right hand will start on finger 2 and then cross 1 under right away. Left hand will start on finger 3 but end on finger 2.

Right hand fingering for Eb Major Scale:

Right hand fingering: 2 1 2 3 4 1 2 3

E Flat Major Scale on Piano - Right Hand Fingering

The left hand fingering is actually the same as the Bb major scale so if you're learned that one, this one won't take quite as long to learn.

Left hand fingering for E flat major scale on piano:

Left hand: 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 2

E Flat Major Scale on Piano Fingering for Bass Clef / Left Hand

Putting the Eb Scale Hands Together

When putting this scale hands together, you really need to be able to play them hands separately without stopping to think about your fingering and notes first. Once you feel very comfortable and can play it without really thinking about it, you can start putting it together.

Here are some tips for playing the E flat major scale hands together:

start extremely slow
take one note at a time going up only
go back down and concentrate on getting the fingering right especially on the turn around
keep going really slowly
don't speed up until you can play the scale evenly, without stopping to check your fingers at your slow pace
be patient with yourself - this ones tricky to begin with!

The E flat major scale is an intermediate scale so take that into account when learning it. It's like everything else, it takes time and practice to learn.

Resource for Piano Scales:

Fingering for all scales - especially more unique ones like Eb major and beyond, can be found in the Complete Book of Scales, Chords and Arpeggios here on Amazon (this is an affiliate link that will earn a tiny commission).

This is a handy resource when learning scales (and also arpeggios).

E Flat Major Scale Fingering Up & Down

If you're playing this scale going up and back down, use the following fingering to help you.

Here are pictures / diagrams of the Eb major scale on piano going both up and back down for the treble clef and right hand and the bass clef and left hand.

Right hand fingering for Eb major scale on piano

E flat major scale piano fingering for left hand

The Key Signature of E Flat Major

Now that you know the E flat major scale, you also know the key signature of E flat major. If the scale as 3 flats, the key does.

The key of E flat has 3 flats: Bb, Eb and Ab.

(The order of the first 4 flats spells the word BEAD, so we have the first 3 letters of the word here.)

Understand the Eb Chord from the Eb Scale

Knowing the E flat major scale on piano not only helps you to play that and understand the key signature but you can also understand and know the Eb chord (written as Eb).

Major chords are built off the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the scale. So if you look at the major chord, this means Eb, G and Bb make the major chord.

We could also learn EbM7 chord. This is build off of the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of the scale. We already know the first bit from the major chord. To find the last note, we just look at the 7th note of the scale - D. So the Eb major seventh chord is Eb G Bb D.

Free Download:

Ultimate Chord Cheat Sheet

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What To Practice?

If you've never played the E flat major scale on piano before, you can give it a try this week!

I'd recommend playing it hands separately and going up and back down.

You can also play the E flat major chord at the end of your scale.

If you need more help with fingering for scale, I recommend the book: Complete Book of Scales, Chords and Arpeggios here on Amazon (this is an affiliate link).

You can also find more scale on the Major Scales Page.

More pages that might help:

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