Last week I played a solo for my jury at school. After the solo, I was asked to play scales, and even though I understand all of the scales and know how to build them, I completely froze up, couldn't think straight and wound up failing that portion of the jury. Anyway, to show that I do have a working knowledge of minor scales, here we go:
Minor scales are derived from church modes. There are three main kinds of minor scale: natural, harmonic, and melodic.
Natural minor (Aeolian mode) scales are scales that share the key signature of the relative major scale and follow that signature. For example: the G minor scale shares the same key signature as the Bb major scale, but the scale is centered around G. So the scale is spelled: G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G. Notice the Bb as the third of the scale. The lowered (flatted) third interval is a defining characteristic of minor scales. In other words, if the third scale degree is not a minor third interval from the tonic (the scale name or home), the scale is not a minor scale. Another way to construct these scales is to start the scale a minor third below the relative major and follow the key signature.
Harmonic scales are similar to natural minor scales, but will have the seventh scale degree raised by a half-step. So our G minor scale will now be spelled: G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F#-G. Melodic minor scales raise the 6th and 7th scale degrees on the ascent (going up the scale) and follows the natural minor scale rules on the descent (going down the scale). The G melodic minor scale becomes:
G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F#-G // G-F-Eb-D-C-Bb-A-G.
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