4. 2 READ: Minor Scales
Minor Scale
Minor scales sound different from major scales because they are based on a different pattern of intervals. Just as it did in major scales, starting the minor scale pattern on a different note will give you a different key signature, a different set of sharps or flats. The scale that is created by playing all the notes in a minor key signature is a natural minor scale. To create a natural minor scale, start on the tonic note, and go up the scale using the interval pattern: whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step.
figure 4. 2. a
Types of Minor Scales
1. Natural Minor Scales
2. Harmonic Minor Scales
3. Melodic Minor Scales
Natural Minor scales
Natural minor scales is build from the major scale's sixth degree. The natural minor scale consists of seven whole (W) and half (H) steps in the following succession: W-H-W-W-H-W-W.
For example C natural minor scale.
figure 4. 2. b
Each natural minor scale is has a relative scale of its major counterpart. For example A minor's relative major is C major scale. Both C major and A minor share the same key signature.
Harmonic and Melodic Minor Scales
The harmonic minor scale raises the seventh note of the scale by one half step, whether you are going up or down the scale. In the melodic minor scale, the sixth and seventh notes of the scale are each raised by one half step when going up the scale, but return to the natural minor when going down the scale.
Comparing Types of Minor Scales
figure 4. 2. c