A Major Violin Scale

This is the first scale almost all violinists learn and a very comfortable key to play in. It has three sharps, F#, C#, and G#.

Easy A Major scale on the violin for beginners (1 octave)

(Sensational Scales p. 2-4)

Start on open A. The fingering pattern is easy here because you just have to follow the tapes if you have them. If you don’t have tapes, make sure your high second finger always touches third finger. For the E, you can choose whether to play four on the A string or open E string.

Sensational Scales includes exercises in broken triads. These are the exact same notes and fingerings, just in a different order. Start on A, skip up to C#, come back down one step to B, skip up again, etc.

A major scale violin 2 octaves

Once you’ve learned the high third finger, you can add a lower octave to your A major scale. This is still all in first position.

(Sensational Scales p. 16-17)

Here we add the lower octave on the G and D strings. Start on 1st finger G string. The fingering is pretty simple, just make sure to play high 3’s on the G and D strings. Everything else is the same, no shifting is necessary. Also try the bowing variations given in the book.

A major scale violin 3 octaves (intermediate)

(Sensational Scales p. 58,71)

This advanced scale requires shifting up to third, fifth, and seventh position. For most accurate results, always slide the shift carefully, never jump or jerk. The book gives two different options for fingerings. The Carl Flesch fingering is the most common. Experiment with both to become a flexible player. The arpeggios here cycle through both A major and A minor (scroll down to learn all about the arpeggios).

A major scale violin 4 octaves (advanced)

(Sensational Scales p. 79)

A Major is one of the few scales that violinists can actually play in four octaves. That last A is one of the highest notes on the violin. Four octave scales don’t come up in sheet music very often, but examples in A major are the opening of Paganini Caprice No. 5 and the last few lines of Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. If you hope to play this repertoire someday, brushing up on your four-octave scales would be a good idea.

Fingering-wise, once you get to third position A on the E string, just keep going up 1-2-1-2 until you get to the D in 13th position. Play the last five notes 1-2-3-4-extended 4 for the last A. Bring the four back to G. After that, it’s just 3-2-1 shifts all the way down the E string.