Minor Scales: Easy Music Theory

there are three main variants of the minor scale the natural minor scale the harmonic minor scale and the melodic minor scale there are other types of minor scales too such as pentatonic minor hungarian minor and others but today we're just going to be talking about these three i'm going to write out each of these scales with c as the tonic or root note so let's start with the c natural minor scale i also wrote out a c major scale for you on top so you could see how the two scales differ from one another now as you can see the c natural minor scale has a flattened third sixth and seventh note when it's compared to the major scale and what i mean by that is if i were to label this scale in numbers if i were to number them each note in the scale the third note the sixth note and the seventh note have been flattened when you compare to the major scale right instead of e we have e flat instead of a we have a flat instead of b we have b flat now when you hear someone refer to a minor scale without any specification they are usually referring to the natural minor scale okay so you can think of the natural minor scale as sort of like the default minor scale it's also the same scale as the aeolian mode in modal music if you don't know what that means don't worry i'll be making lots of videos about modes later so stay tuned now natural minor scales also have relative major scales that share the same notes for example b flat major and g minor are relative scales i'll write them out so you can see now if you look at these two scales b flat major and g minor you can see that they actually have the exact same notes in them right they have all natural notes except for a b-flat and an e-flat see b-flat and e-flat the rest of them are natural notes and actually they're going in the same order as well the notes are going in alphabetical order they're just starting at different places this g minor scale is starting on the note g and this b flat major scale is starting on the note b flat and that's because the note that you start a scale on is actually very important it really matters where we start a scale um so let me play them for you so you can hear them so the b flat major scale sounds like this and a g minor scale sounds like this they sound very different right one of them sounds like a minor scale and one of them sounds like a major scale yet they have the exact same notes in them and that is what we call relative scales or relative keys so we would say that b-flat major is the relative major of g minor and we would say that g minor is the relative minor of b flat major and what type of minor scale is this relative g minor scale it is a natural minor scale so whenever you hear someone referring to the relative minor scale they're always referring to a natural minor scale not one of the other types of minor scales which i'm going to show you later in this video so relative minor scales are always natural minor if you're still not clear about what relative minor scales and keys are i have a video that goes into a lot more detail about them in the description below now let's look at the harmonic minor scale so i'm going to write out the notes in a c harmonic minor scale now i want you to look carefully at the c natural minor scale and the c harmonic minor scale okay and which note do you see is different between those two scales in the c harmonic minor we have a raised seventh note and so i'm saying seventh note i mean the seventh note on the scale which is b flat has been raised by a half step or a semitone okay because what happens to the note b flat when we move up a half step we get to the note b right so that's what i mean when i say it has a raised seventh degree okay so that's the only difference between the two otherwise the rest of the notes are the same so let's listen to what these two skills sound like okay here's a c natural minor scale and here's a c harmonic minor scale [Music] so you can hear that they actually sound quite different from one another just because we have that raised seventh degree by the way if you're enjoying this video so far don't forget to give it a thumbs up and leave a comment to say hey and if you're new here hello and welcome i post one video a week and i would love to have you subscribe if you are thinking about it make sure you turn on the little bell notification button because otherwise you may not know when i upload a new video and last but not least if you want to practice what we learned in this video i have printable pdf practice worksheets as well as a printable pdf summary of this video you can download those in a link in the description below all right moving on now let's check out the c melodic minor scale now i want you to compare the melodic minor scale the c melodic minor scale to the c natural minor scale okay and i want you to look at them and see which notes are different okay so we have c that's the same d is the same e flat's the same f is the same g is the same ah here's where it gets different we have instead of a flat and b flat we have an a and a b so we would say that we have a raised sixth and seventh degree in the c melodic minor so what that means is that from c natural minor we're taking the sixth and seventh notes or six and seventh degrees of the scale and we're raising them by a half step okay because when you go from the note a flat and raise it a half step you get to the note a and that's what we have here and when you have the note b flat when you raise that up a half step you get to the note b so the c harmonic minor only has a raised seventh but the c melodic minor has both a raised sixth and a raised seventh now the thing that's unique about the melodic minor scale is that it only has a raised sixth and seventh degree when it's ascending okay so when you write or play a melodic minor scale descending you actually just play it as a natural minor scale so let me show you what i mean by that okay so if i were to play the melodic minor scale in c c melodic minor scale both ascending and then descending it would sound like this okay so when i'm ascending so i'm going from a lower note to a higher note i'm gonna first just play it as a normal melodic minor scale like that so i would play c d e flat f g a b and c okay but then if i were to play it descending i'm not going to play these notes i'm actually just going to revert to the natural minor scale and play this going down so i'm starting on c then i would play b flat a flat g f e flat d and c okay now i know you might be thinking okay why on earth would a scale have different notes depending on if it's ascending or descending well next week i'm going to be posting a video about why there are three variants of the minor scale okay and i'll also be talking about why the melodic minor scale changes when it's ascending versus descending in that video and once i upload that video i will post a link to it in the description below of this video i actually think it's really really important to talk about why there are three minor scales because if you understand the why behind them it makes it a lot easier to remember the three different scales and what they can be used for to be honest when i first learned about minor scales i never could remember which was which but once i learned why there are these three different variants of the minor scale it all became a lot more clear and easy to remember so i don't want my videos to be too long so i'm separating the material into two videos but definitely check it out next week once i post it because i think it's super important to understand so we said the melodic minor scale only has a raised sixth and seventh note when it's ascending but when it's descending it's just like the natural minor scale i know that sounds really crazy but honestly you don't really have to worry about that too much unless you're studying music at a university and you're going to be getting quizzed on it it's a very much a classical thing and there is actually a scale called the jazz melodic minor scale and in this scale you just play the exact same notes um in the melodic minor scale both ascending and descending so you would play c d e flat f g a b c ascending this is for the jazz melodic minor scale and then when you're descending you would also play those exact same notes c b a g f e flat d c okay and if you're a jazz musician practicing the melodic minor scale you would maybe most likely just practice this scale instead of the normal melodic minor where you change to different notes when you're descending and to be honest when i practice the melodic minor scale i practice the jazz melodic minor scale instead so i don't have to deal with changing the notes when i'm descending it's definitely good to know that the melodic minor scale technically reverts back to the natural minor scale when it's descending but depending on what kind of music you play it might not actually be that useful for you to practice the scale that way and you might just prefer to just play the jazz melodic minor scale instead because it's a little bit simpler just to have the same notes ascending and descending now just to clarify i'm definitely not saying that you shouldn't practice your melodic minor scale differently ascending or descending you know if you're a classical musician or if you're studying music in school or if you really like to do things by the books then maybe you would enjoy playing the melodic minor scale correctly which would be different when it's ascending or descending what i'm saying is that if you are not one of those types of people let's say you play a different genre of music um it might not be as necessary and if you happen to find it extremely confusing and annoying that it is different ascending and descending maybe just practice the jazz melodic minor scale instead you know the worst thing is to get discouraged because something is frustratingly difficult now i know it might feel really overwhelming having these three different minor scales but really i don't think you should think of them as three different minor scales okay i think it's a lot easier just to think of the minor scales as having a flexible sixth and seventh scale degree because the primary difference between a major scale and a minor scale is the third degree or the third note you know if you look at these scales okay you can see that the one note that all three of these minor scales have in common that differs from the major scale is the note e flat see how all three of these scales have the note e flat while the major scale has the note e and that's because this third degree the third note in the scale is really really really important when it comes to distinguishing if it's major or minor so this is really the note that tells us if a scale is major or minor okay so what i'm trying to say is all of these minor scales are exactly the same up until the last two notes right these all three of these minor scales all start with the notes c d e flat f g right c d e flat f g c d e flat f g they're all the same up until that point the only thing that's different about them are the sixth and seventh degrees okay so with the natural minor they've been flattened from the major scale okay and then with these we have when if we were you know compare them to the natural minor scale we have a raised seventh and then in the melodic minor we have a raised six and seventh so so those notes are flexible okay but these are all set in stone you know scales don't exist to confuse and torture us they're actually supposed to help us and in my next video that i'm going to be posting next week i'm going to be explaining in a lot more depth how these three different scales can help us okay so if you're just beginning to learn your minor scales i would recommend you start by learning your natural minor scales okay and then just keep in mind that the sixth and seventh notes in those scales can be raised if desired okay then once you're confident with your natural minor scales you can begin practicing the harmonic minor and the melodic minor scales okay so there's a reason why we practice these three scales separately but as i said i'm going to get into that in the next video now how do we figure out the notes in a natural minor scale well there are a few ways but i think the easiest way is to think about how it differs from the parallel major scale and another way to think about it is you would memorize the order of half steps and whole steps in a natural minor scale and i'm going to show you both of those ways so first let's look at how to find the natural minor scale from its parallel major scale so let's say i want to figure out the notes in a d natural minor scale okay well first i would look at the parallel major scale which is d major okay so the parallel major scale is just the major scale that has the same root note for example the parallel major of g minor is g major the parallel major of f minor is f major et cetera so if we want to find the notes in a d natural minor scale we are going to first look at the parallel major scale which is d major right so let's first write out the notes in a d major scale [Music] so here i've got the notes in a d major scale right i know that and so using that i'm going to figure out the notes in a d natural minor scale so using the parallel major scale i'm going to figure out the natural minor scale and it always follows the exact same formula okay so if we're getting the natural minor scale from the major scale we're always going to flatten the third the sixth and the seventh notes in the scale okay so the first two notes are gonna stay the same d and e are gonna be the same then when we get to the third note d e f sharp right we're going to flatten it okay so what happens when we flatten an f sharp here's f sharp and move it down a half step becomes f natural so this turns into f natural no longer f sharp okay d e f then the fourth fourth degree of the fourth note g stays the same right so we only we only flattened the third sixth and seventh right what about the fifth note a that stays the same right ah okay now we're at the sixth note b so we need to flatten the sixth note so what happens to a b if we flatten it a b turns into b-flat right so we have b-flat and then the seventh degree which is c-sharp we're going to flatten that too right so c-sharp when we flatten a c-sharp what happens to it turns into c natural so c natural and then we can write the d at the end again if we want so so that is how we figure out the notes in the d natural minor scale using the parallel major scale so we just take the parallel major scale and we flatten the third sixth and seventh notes in the scale and it always works out this way so no matter what the root note is of your scales you're always just going to flatten the third sixth and seventh and you will get the natural minor scale now just for kicks and giggles let's also write out the notes in the d harmonic minor scale okay so do you remember how we alter the natural minor scale to get the harmonic minor scale okay do you remember so from the natural minor we're going to raise one of the notes move it up one half step okay we're gonna move one of these notes up a half step so do you know which one it is it's the seventh degree we move up a half step so that note c right one two three four five six seven c moves up a half step so what is our scale going to be the harmonic minor scale is going to be d e f g a b flat then c sharp and then d right because if we raise c there's my c if i raise it by a half step it goes into c sharp okay and that is a d harmonic minor scale now some of you have maybe never seen a scale before that has both a flat and a sharp in it okay but this is actually the correct way to write it okay so because when we get into these harmonic minor scales and stuff that's not just a natural minor scale then we can start to see scales that have both sharps and flats in them okay so just if you run across that it's not wrong that is really what it is okay and last but not least what about the notes in a d melodic minor scale do you remember what we alter from the natural minor scale to get the notes in a melodic minor scale [Music] so to get the notes in a melodic minor scale from our natural minor scale we're going to raise the sixth and seventh degrees of the scale okay so that means all the notes at the beginning are the same so we still have a d is the same one two three four five okay and then when we get to the sixth degree and the seventh degree which are b flat and c we're going to raise those by a half step okay so what happens when we raise b flat by a half step turns into b right and what happens when we raise c by a half step turns into c sharp okay c sharp and then d and these are the notes in a d melodic minor scale now quick little quiz question do you remember which one of these three minor scales has different notes uh depending on if it's ascending or descending do you remember it's the melodic minor scale right so what would be the melodic minor scale descending okay we know that it when it's ascending we play this right d e f g a b c d right that's it ascending but when it's descending what notes do we play we play the notes in a different one of these other scales it's us ending we play the d melodic minor and when it's descending we play the notes in the d natural minor scale okay so it would sound like this descending d c [Music] just like that so if i were to play the d melodic minor scale both ascending and descending it would sound like this d e f g a b c sharp d d c e flat a g f e d now i'll play it without talking [Music] and let's listen to what these other scales sound like as well so let's play our d natural minor scale okay [Music] now let's play the notes in a d harmonic minor scale [Music] just for fun i'll also play a d major scale so you can hear and compare so remember the way we found the d natural minor scale from the parallel major scale was we flattened the third sixth and seventh notes in the scale and then we got our natural minor scale okay let's do one more like this because i think it's good to go through these examples let's figure out the notes in an e minor scale so first what are the notes in an e major scale i'll write them out [Music] um now what do i do to figure out the notes in the e natural minor scale i'm going to take my e major scale and i'm going to do what i'm going to flatten three notes do you remember which ones the third the sixth and the seventh it's always that patterns it's always the third sixth and seventh get flattened so what is the third note the third note one two three is the g sharp what happens when we flatten the note g sharp it becomes g so we have the third note is g right then fourth note's the same right what about the fifth note is that the same that's the same i'll write in the first and second as well okay so we have one two three four five now the sixth note what happens to that that one we flattened two so c sharp turns into what when we flatten the c sharp it becomes c natural so we got a c natural and then what about d sharp that's the seventh degree do we find that one yes we do remember we find the third sixth and seventh so the seventh note d sharp turns into your d sharp turns into a d right and then we can write the e again if we want to at the end so these are the notes in our e natural minor scale what about an e melodic minor scale okay let's figure out that so so how do we find the melodic minor from the natural minor okay so we're going to ignore the major scale up here we're just how does the melodic minor scale differ differ from the natural minor scale do you remember it has a raised sixth and seventh okay so which are the sixth and seventh that's c and d right one two three four five six and seven so those two notes are gonna get both get raised by one half step so what are those two notes gonna become to become c sharp and d sharp right and the rest of the notes are all the same so e f sharp g a b let me at the end again and there you go these are the notes in an e melodic minor scale what about an e harmonic minor scale so what about an e harmonic minor scale how does the e harmonic minor differ from the e natural minor we're gonna raise just the seventh degree so only one note so that node d goes from d to if we raise d by a half step it turns into d sharp right so the rest of it's the same so we have e f sharp g a b c d sharp and then e got it and which one of these scales has different notes when it's descending you remember is it the natural minor melodic minor or harmonic minor it's the melodic minor right and what would those notes be when it's descending which it goes back to one it uses the notes from one another one of these scales it uses the notes from the natural minor scale so when it's ascending it plays these notes and then when it's descending it plays those notes right so when it's ascending it's e f sharp g a b c sharp d sharp e and when it's descending it's e d c b a g f sharp e that would be our e melodic minor scale ascending and descending it uses the those notes for the ascending and then it goes to the natural minor notes when it's descending and just to throw you off a little bit when i wrote out these e minor scales um i switched the order of them so in the past i had written the harmonic minor first and then the melodic minor and this time i wrote the melodic minor first and then the harmonic matter just to keep you on your toes a little bit and just for fun and because it's good for our ears let's listen to the notes in an e harmonic minor scale okay e f sharp g a b c d sharp e e d sharp c b [Music] and we can also listen to the e natural minor ascending and descending as well right it sounds like this [Music] cool and just for fun we'll also play the e major scale e f sharp g sharp a b c sharp d sharp e e d sharp c sharp b a fish [Music] now we're going to analyze the order of whole steps and half steps in a natural minor scale and we're going to use the e natural minor scale as our example so we're going to basically determine what the distance is between every single note in the scale and that is going to be telling us what the pattern is for all natural minor scales because all natural minor scales have the exact same pattern it's the same order of whole steps and half steps that create it so first we're going to look at the distance between the root and the second note in the scale so the note e and f sharp is the distance between e and f sharp a whole step or a half step you can look on our piano if that helps so from e to f sharp is that a whole step or a half step that's a whole step right a half step would be that but we have a whole step so i'm going to write a w like that for a whole step okay now let's figure out the distance between f sharp and g okay so f sharp and g is that a whole step or a half step here it is in the piano f sharp to g it's that whole step or half step that's a half step right so i'm going to write an h for half step okay what about g to a is that a whole step or a half step g to a that's a whole step okay what about a to b a to b whole step or half step that's a whole step all right what about b to c b to c is what's that that's a half step okay what about c to d c to d whole step for half step it's a whole step okay and last but not least what about d to e that's a whole step so our pattern um i'll write it down here actually so we have it just written here so i like to always write r first so that we remember to count it from the root note so first we have the root note then we have whole step half step whole step whole step half step whole step whole step so it's root whole half whole whole half whole whole so we could figure out the notes in any natural minor scale using this formula so as long as we know what the root note is if we just plug in this formula we can figure out all the other notes in the scale so for example let's say i want to figure out the notes in an a minor scale okay a natural minor scale okay this formula is just for natural minor scales so let's figure out the note so we're going to start with the root is a right then a whole step up from a is what so here's a i move up a whole step i get to the note b right so b then if i move up a half step from b right what's a half step up from b let's see i've got c and i'm going to move up a whole step from c so whole step up from c is d right then a whole step up from d is e then a half step up from e is what here's e that's a half step up it's f then a whole step up from f is here's f g and a whole step up from g is a and we get back to the root again and voila those are the notes in an a natural minor scale so you can always plug in this formula of whole steps and half steps to figure out the note in any natural minor scale or as i said you can also flatten the third sixth and seventh notes in the parallel major scale so what with the parallel major scale so a major the notes in an a major scale are a b c sharp d e f sharp g sharp and a right so the third sixth and seventh so that would be one two three c sharp that's going to get lowered right by a hat we're gonna flatten the third flatten the six and flatten the seventh we get so c sharp turns into c three so one two three four five six f sharp turns into f when it gets flattened and then the seventh degree also gets planned g sharp turns into g and then the rest of the notes are the same a b e d a okay look it's another way to get to the a natural minor scale so we can use this formula for steps or half steps or we can flatten the third sixth and seventh from the parallel major scale i hope this has helped you guys definitely check out my other video that goes into why we have these three different types of minor scales talk gonna talk about why they're formed and i promise you once you watch that it's gonna be a lot easier to remember them because it's really hard to remember them before you know why okay so definitely check that out i'm gonna put the link in the description below i'm also gonna upload it next week and that is it um if you have any questions let me know in the comments if you like the video leave a comment say hey give it a thumbs up please consider subscribing if you haven't yet and that is all oh and if you want to practice what we learned in this lesson i have a printable pdf worksheet as well as a printable pdf summary of everything we learned here today as well which you can download and a link in the description below that is all thank you guys so much a big thank you especially to my patreons who make it possible for me to make these videos for you guys um their support means everything and if you would like to support my channel as well a link for that is down below too thank you guys so much for watching um have a wonderful rest of your day or night and i will see you next week

Channel: Gracie Terzian

Views: 76,923

Keywords: gracie terzian, beginner, music, lesson, free, chart, circle of fifths, circle of 5ths, circle of 4ths and 5ths, music theory, easy music theory, chord theory, melody, theory, beginner music theory, guitar, piano, ukulele, music education, free lessons, 101, learn music, notes, harmony, minor scale, 3 types of minor scales, 3 minor scales guitar, 3 minor scales piano, harmonic minor, melodic minor, relative minor, natural minor, jazz melodic minor, whole steps, half steps, semitones

Id: qXLr-O2ZNDU

Length: 31min 39sec (1899 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 10 2021