Minor Scale
Hey there buddy, today lets discuss about another
important scale, it’s called Minor Scale. In last post we have learn about
Major Scale, it is happy sounding scale. Minor is a sad sounding scale, it
creates a sensation of strong emotions of pain, sorrow, misery.
There are 3 types of Minor Scales:
- ·
Natural
Minor
- ·
Harmonic
Minor
- ·
Melodic
Minor
Before we start discussion of Minor Scale, it is
highly recommended for you to identify each note on a Piano, you may also try
this with any instruments whose individual notes could be easily identified
(Like guitar, violin, harp, etc.). In case you don’t know, read this article. You
may also read about Major Scales if you don’t know much about it.
We will learn Minor Scales with formula, so you don’t
have the burden of memorizing the notes present in the scale.
Before
starting our formula let’s get familiar with some terms.
R denotes the Root note, or the note you are starting with.
H denotes Half-Step, which means the note right next to the note you
presently are.
W denotes Whole-Step, which means the note which comes after skipping one
note.
Natural Minor
So let us begin with natural minor. Natural minor are
said to be sad sounding notes, but it is also used to create a deep sensation
of pain or loss through music.
Minor Scale carries 7 notes in sequence plus 1 note
from next octave. That is it takes 8 notes to cover it’s octave as same like
Major. But unlike Major Scale, 2 notes are played differently here and we will
talk about that here.
Now let’s take a look at the formula for Natural Minor
Scale:
R W H W W H W W
If you can’t understand this, follow our last post.
So now if we write all the notes of all 12 Natural
Minor Scale, it looks like:
C Minor: C D D# F G G# A# C or C D Eb F G Ab Bb C
C# Minor/ Db Minor: C# D# E F# G# A B C# or Db Eb E Gb
Ab A B Db
D Minor: D E F G A A# C D or D E F G A Bb C D
D# Minor/Eb Minor: D# F F# G# A# B C# D# or Eb F Gb Ab
Bb B Db Eb
E Minor: E F# G A B C D E or E Gb G A B C D E
F Minor: F G G# A# C C# D# F or F G Ab Bb C Db Eb F
F# Minor/Gb Minor: F# G# A B C# D E F# or Gb Ab A B Db
D E Gb
G Minor: G A A# C D D# F G or G A Bb C D Eb F G
G# Minor/Ab Minor: G# A# B C# D# E F# G# or Ab Bb B Db
Eb E Gb Ab
A Minor: A B C D E F G A
A# Minor/Bb Minor: A# C C# D# F F# G# A# or Bb C Db Eb
F Gb Ab Bb
B Minor: B C# D E F# G A B or B Db D E Gb G A B
Relation of Major and Natural Minor Scales
There is an important relation between Major and
Natural Minor Scale and that is if you count 3 notes backward from the Major
scale, you get Natural Minor. You can continue playing the notes which were in
the Major Scale from 3 step backward, and you will see that all the notes are of
another Minor.
For example, let’s discuss about scale C Major. The
notes in it are C D E F G A B C. Here from last, start counting 3 steps
backward and you are at A. If you continue playing C Scale but start from the
note A, it is as A B C D E F G A, see this scale is A Minor. From this logic,
the Relative Minor Scales are
C Major->A Minor
C#/Db Major->A#/Bb Minor
D Major ->B Minor
D#/Eb Major ->C Minor
E Major ->C#/Db Minor
F Major ->D Minor
F#/Gb Major ->D#/Eb Minor
G Major ->E Minor
G#/Ab Major ->F Minor
A Major ->F#/Gb Minor
A#/Bb Major ->G Minor
B Major->G#/Eb Minor
Harmonic Minor
Harmonic Minor is another type of Minor Scale which is
slightly different from Natural Minor. This scale leaves a deep impression of
misery. Before writing it’s formula know that 3H signify 3 Half-Steps
meaning 3 notes next to the present note, or say the note right next to whole
step.
So now the formula is R W H W W H 3H W
This looks like:
C Harmonic Minor: C D D# F G G# B C or C D Eb F G Ab B
C
C# Harmonic Minor/ Db Harmonic Minor: C# D# E F# G# A C
C# or Db Eb E Gb Ab A C Db
D Harmonic Minor: D E F G A A# C# D or D E F G A Bb Db
D
D# Harmonic Minor/Eb Harmonic Minor: D# F F# G# A# B D
D# or Eb F Gb Ab Bb B D Eb
E Harmonic Minor: E F# G A B C D# E or E Gb G A B C Eb
E
F Harmonic Minor: F G G# A# C C# E F or F G Ab Bb C Db
E F
F# Harmonic Minor/Gb Harmonic Minor: F# G# A B C# D F
F# or Gb Ab A B Db D F Gb
G Harmonic Minor: G A A# C D D# F# G or G A Bb C D Eb Gb
G
G# Harmonic Minor/Ab Harmonic Minor: G# A# B C# D# E G
G# or Ab Bb B Db Eb E G Ab
A Harmonic Minor: A B C D E F G# A or A B C D E F Ab A
A# Harmonic Minor/Bb Harmonic Minor: A# C C# D# F F# A
A# or Bb C Db Eb F Gb A Bb
B Harmonic Minor: B C# D E F# G A# B or B Db D E Gb G
Bb B
Melodic Minor
Melodic minor is somewhat fusion between Minor and
Major. It gives a happy melody with a touch of sorrow.
The formula for this is R W H W W W W H
This looks like
C Melodic Minor: C D D# F G A B C or C D Eb F G A B C
C# /Db Melodic Minor: C# D# E F# G# A# C C# or Db Eb E Gb Ab
Bb C Db
D Melodic Minor: D E F G A B C# D or D E F G A B Db D
D# /Eb Melodic Minor: D# F F# G# A# C D D# or Eb F Gb Ab Bb C D Eb
E Melodic Minor: E F# G A B C# D# E or E Gb G A B Db Eb E
F Melodic Minor: F G G# A# C D E F or F G Ab Bb C D E F
F# /Gb Melodic Minor: F# G# A B C# D# F F# or Gb Ab A B
Db Eb F Gb
G Melodic Minor: G A A# C D E F# G or G A Ab C D E Gb G
G# /Ab Melodic Minor: G# A# B C# D# F G G# or Ab Bb B Db
Eb F G Ab
A Melodic Minor: A B C D E F# G# A or A B C D E Gb Ab A
A# /Bb Melodic Minor: A# C C# D# F G A A# or Bb C Db Eb F
G A Bb
B Melodic Minor: B C# D E F# G# A# B or B Db D E Gb Ab Bb B
That’s all for Minor Scale, it’s quite an important
series of scales as these are used very often in music. Major with Natural
Minor are among most important scale as most songs are based mainly on these
two scales. We will post soon about an interesting scale called pentatonic,
these scales are really a jackpot and you know why? You must have seen some
guitarist or pianist running their hands extremely fast and that looks like
this require huge time to master. But these are not as tough as they look, you
will see why in next post on Pentatonic Scale.
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