Minor scales

Just when you thought we were done with minor scales, I pull you back in! So far we have talked about the natural minor scale but we haven’t discussed its two other siblings.

What Will Be Covered:

1. The Natural Minor Scale

2. The Harmonic Minor Scale

3. The Melodic Minor Scale

1) The Natural Minor Scale

The natural minor scale is the most common scale and usually the second type of scale, after the major scale, that you are taught when you are starting to learn how to play piano. This natural minor scale is also known as an aeolian mode, which we will touch on a future lesson. Unlike the major scale that has more of a happy feel to it, the natural minor scale tends to have more of a melancholy, somber feel to it. I remember when I was starting off I would ask my piano teacher if she could give me something that sounded “sad” and it usually ended up being a piece with a minor scale. :)

Aside from its unique sound, what sets the natural minor scale apart from the major scale is the way it is constructed. In order to build a natural minor scale we have to use the following formula:

W - H - W - W - H - W - W

The formula helps us create its unique sound that separates it from the major scale. Interestingly enough, this same formula is also what sets the natural minor scale apart from the other minor scales. How so? Well, the formula does not change whether we are ascending up the scale or descending down the scale, it remains the same.

Let’s look at the a minor scale to see what I mean.

As you can see, as we ascended up the scale our formula remained the same, W - H - W - W - H - W - W, and as we descended down the scale it remained the same just going backwards, W - W - H - W - W - H - W, the order did not change as we went backwards.

* I use the arrows pointing inward to show that they are practically a mirror image as we descend down the scale.

2) The Harmonic Minor Scale

The harmonic minor scale also has a very unique sound and its unique sound is due to its seventh scale degree.

The formula for constructing a harmonic minor scale is similar to the natural minor with a slight difference as we approach the seventh scale degree. See if you can see the difference in the formula for the harmonic minor.

W - H - W - W - H - (W+H) - H

The order is pretty much the same except for the end where we encounter the (W+H) - H. So what does this mean? All this means is that as we are approaching our seventh scale degree, instead of just going up a whole step we are going to go further by going up a half step more.

Let me break it down even further.

In order to move a whole step we need to move upwards or downwards by two steps. Look at the illustration below.

If moving a whole step requires we move up two steps then half of two is one so in order to move upwards or downwards a half step we only move up/down by one step. Look at the illustration below.

So, if we want to know how many steps to take to move up to that (W+H) all we have to do is a little math. Since W=2 steps and H=1 step, then (2+1)=3 steps. This means that once we’re at our sixth scale degree we will be then moving up or down three steps in order to get to our seventh scale degree in our harmonic minor scale.

Continuing to use the a minor scale as an example this is how our scale will look.

As you can see our formula remains the same as we are ascending and descending down the harmonic scale.

3) The Melodic Minor Scale

The melodic minor scale is quite different from the previous minor scales as the formula for its construction is different as we ascend up the scale and changes as we descend down the scale.

The formula for the melodic minor as we ascend up the scale is as follows:

W - H - W - W - W - W - H

As we descend down the scale the formula changes and follows this new order:

W - W - H - W - W - H - W

Does the descending melodic scale look familiar? It should, if you look closely you’ll notice that it is the natural minor scale descending.

Let’s look at the melodic minor scale ascending and descending side by side.

** The symbols in front of the G and F as we’re descending are call naturals. As we ascended the F and G were # (sharps) so we use the natural sign to indicate we are no longer playing an F# or G# but gone back to playing a natural F and G.

As the picture makes it evident, our melodic minor is different from the other minor scales because the sixth and seventh degree is raised by half a step as we are ascending and as we start to descend both the sixth and seventh scale degree revert back to form a descending natural minor.

These are the three minor scales. As you can tell by now, they each have similarities but also their distinct differences that give them their unique sound and a lot of it has to do with the formulas used to construct the scales. At some point I even had you doing math to figure out the formulas. #sorrynotsorry :)

Let’s do a quick recap of our three minor scales and the key points that differentiate them.

• The natural minor uses the same formula as it ascends and descends:

  • W - H - W - W - H - W - W

• The harmonic minor also uses the same formula as it ascends and descends:

  • W - H - W - W - H - (W+H) - H

• The melodic minor uses two different formulas.

  • As it ascends it uses: W - H - W - W - W - W - H

  • As it descends it uses: W - W - H - W - W - H - W