Minor scales: natural, harmonic and melodic
The minor scale comes in three forms, natural, harmonic and melodic, and they all share the same start: a minor third above the tonic. They differ only in their sixth and seventh degrees. In this guide, we'll take the three forms one at a time, and you'll hear each of them. Once you understand why those two notes move, you understand the minor scale.
Natural minor
Let's begin with the simplest one. Play the white keys from A to A, and you get whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole. The natural minor uses exactly the notes of its relative major, C major for A minor, starting on the sixth degree. It's also called the Aeolian mode.
Harmonic minor
In natural minor, the seventh degree is a whole step below the tonic, so it doesn't pull toward it. Raise it a half step and you create a true leading tone: in A minor, G becomes G♯. This leaves a step and a half between the sixth and seventh degrees. That gap is the augmented second, and it's what gives harmonic minor its distinctive, exotic color.
Melodic minor
To smooth out that augmented second in a melody, the sixth degree is raised too on the way up, which gives F♯ and G♯ in A minor. Coming down, the leading tone isn't needed, so the scale returns to natural minor. That's the classical form. In jazz, the ascending form is often used in both directions.
- Scale
- A harmonic minor
- Key signature
- no sharps or flats (+ leading tone G♯ as an accidental)
- Degrees
- 1. tonic · 2. supertonic · 3. mediant · 4. subdominant · 5. dominant · 6. submediant · 7. leading tone
Relative major and key signature
A minor key shares its key signature with its relative major, a minor third higher. A minor and C major have no accidentals, E minor and G major have one sharp, and D minor and F major have one flat. The raised leading tone is never part of the key signature. It's written as an accidental, and that's your best clue that a piece is in minor.