Minor Scales: A Majorly Helpful Guide

Have some minor confusion? Look no further. This clear and comprehensive guide will leave you with a major understanding (of the minor scales).

It can take a while to understand music terminology. It doesn’t help that we use the same words in many different contexts. For example, chords, melodies, and scales can be major or minor. 

What makes something minor? 

If you forget how to number the notes of a major scale, we number them one to seven. 

When you make the third note of the scale flat (lower by a third), it becomes minor, so you need to label it b3. 

In this article, we break down different types of minor scales. Each is unique, but they all have something in common – a b3. 

Natural minor scales.

Natural minor is the minor sound you hear in most Western music. 

To get some context, let’s check out a specific scale. For example, C natural minor.

Unlike the other minor scales, natural minor directly relates to the major scale–like cousins. So much so that every natural minor has a relative major. 

To figure out the relative major, play all the notes of your natural minor, starting on the third degree. For example, the third degree of C natural minor is Eb. 

If you look closely, notice that these are the notes of the Eb major scale. That makes Eb the relative major of C natural minor. If we treat Eb as our root note, the scale looks like this:

Have trouble grasping it? Maybe you need another example. Here is a table with the C major scale and its relative minor, A natural minor.

Harmonic minor scales.

The harmonic minor scale is famous for its defining role in Jewish and Eastern European music and some Middle Eastern music. Its sound is suspenseful and intriguing, evoking mystery and magic. 

Notice that only one note differs from the natural minor scale – the seven. Instead of being flat, it is natural. 

This change is significant because it creates an additional minor third interval within the scale. Can you spot where? 

It’s between flat-six and seven. This interval is the heart of the minor sound. 

Let’s look at the same key as before–the C harmonic minor scale.

Before you get too excited, relative majors don’t apply to the harmonic minor scale. There is still a lot to explore with this beautiful minor sound. It will awaken your senses and transport you to different times and places.

Melodic minor scales.

Melodic minor is only half a scale, meaning it is different when it’s ascending than when it’s descending. The descending pattern is one you already know and is identical to natural minor. The ascending pattern is a little different.

As you can see, the only note that changes from its natural major state is the three, meaning that ascending melodic minor is just a major scale with a flat three. 

Now, let’s look at the whole melodic minor scale, ascending and descending.

When playing the scale on its own, it’s pretty straightforward, but when your jazz teacher asks you to improvise with a melodic minor scale, it gets tricky. Then you have to change the notes depending on whether they’re going higher or lower. What a headache!

So, what’s the C melodic minor look like?

Advanced minor scales.

In music theory, there is a rabbit hole that we call modes. Modes are this crazy concept: if you play any major scale starting from a different root note, you get another type of scale. It’s a little confusing but stay with us.

Phrygian.

Phrygian is the third mode of the major scale. Playing the notes of a major scale starting from the third degree will sound Phrygian. 

For example, let’s write the notes of the C major scale starting with E.

If we make E the one, all of the intervallic relationships change and have the following numeric formula:

If you take any major scale and play it starting on the third degree, it contains this formula–and because it has a flat three, it’s a minor scale. 

For clarity and comparison, let’s look at C Phrygian, the third mode of Ab major.

Aeolian.

The same concept applies to every degree of the major scale. One that may look familiar to you is the Aeolian mode, which starts on the sixth degree of the major scale. Let’s figure this out by looking at the C major scale with its sixth mode, A Aeolian.

Recognize this table?

Yep, Aeolian is just another name for a natural minor scale. 

Locrian.

This is one of the crunchier modes, starting on the seventh degree of the major scale. Locrian’s numeric formula has almost everything flat. Because of its flat three, it is also a minor scale. 

Let’s look at the key of C major, with its seventh mode B Locrian. Let’s compare it to the B major scale for a more detailed analysis.

Listen closely, learn slowly.

This article may look more like math than a music lesson. To play or hear scales and modes, you don’t have to know the numbers–but having this knowledge will make it easier for you to use and identify these sounds when you’re playing or writing music. Learn slowly, be patient, and practice repetitions, and it will all sink in. Eventually.

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